CoLu Week 2018
by LoadedEel
Summary: It's that time of year again, the one we've all been waiting for, the one that brings together a smooth talking snake charmer and a badass Star Child. June 17th to 24th, we'll be exploring 7 prompts with a bonus to keep things real. I hope you're hanging onto your hats people because this is CoLu Week.
1. Announcement

**COLU WEEK 2018**

* * *

Hello, my precious cupcakes, it's that time of year again where someone messages me exclaiming that **GemNika** is putting out the update that CoLu Week is upon us again, and this time it came out of nowhere. I had such a good experience with it last year that I will do it again and am so on board I can't even stand it. That being said, I cannot wait to read all the new submissions and ideas that will come out. I would also like to give a shout out and a big ol' thank you to **Dragonshost** who is kindly hosting this week again this year.

For those of you who remember my submissions from last year (and if you don't, go read them and get your CoLu freak on so you're up to date) I will be following the path of unconnected one-shots again. There may be some that are continuations from last year, but I'll let you know when the time comes.

* * *

 **This is the blanket disclaimer:** All stories will either be rated **M** or lower, some might contain adult situations, and all will contain vulgar language because Cobra refuses to be written any other way. Obviously. He's just so precious and special like that.

* * *

Day 1: Defect

Day 2: Water

Day 3: Invite

Day 4: Pyramid

Day 5: Delirious

Day 6: Pilot

Day 7: Staff

Bonus Day: Dance

* * *

Get ready for that sexy snake and some BAMF Lucy, cause I know I am.

Stay Crazy,

LoadedEel


	2. Defect

All Rights to Hiro Mashima

* * *

 **Diamondback**

 _Day 1: Defect_

* * *

Everything slowed down for a moment before there was an explosion of white.

—then nothing.

* * *

 **Now**

* * *

"Demon."

"Erik."

"I told you not to fucking—"

"I know. I know, don't call you by your given name. But Kinana and Lu—"

"Just…fucking stamp the request and let me leave, goddamn it."

"…fine. Only if you tell me why they can use that name without getting their heads ripped off, or food poisoned. Lucky Wendy was there and Jet is such a forgiving person."

"I don't give a shit about other people. Cu was my first friend and Starshine…"

"Star—"

"Fucking…shut up Demon. Just…shit…stamp the paper so I can get out of here before the masses swarm."

The sound of the rubber stamp was quiet in the light of the morning, just after dawn. Macao and Wakaba snored quietly face down two tables away. Cana murmured about the perfect honey ale and shifted restlessly.

"When are you leaving?"

"Next train."

"And when he asks? You know he always asks."

A sharp smirk split the silence. "Make something up. Tell him I ran away from his blueberry ass. I'm a free man now, he's not my damn keeper."

Her head bobbed in a nod. "Solo mission? Or perhaps something else?" A certain sparkle in bright blue eyes belied the sharp brain hidden under all that platinum hair.

He hated the way she fished for information. This was no one else's business but his own. "Something else."

His cloak swirled softly as he turned suddenly and exited the guild.

It was quiet, but with his magic, he could hear everything again. He always did. _You're a good friend Cobra…_

He scowled as Mira's voice filtered through the flat air, then scoffed quietly.

When it came to her, he would be whatever she needed him to be.

And what she needed right now was to get out of this fucking town, away from the guild and her heavy-handed teammates who smothered her to death.

It was that time of year again. And he couldn't believe that something like _this_ had all but fallen in his lap.

And by fallen into his lap he means the Demon barkeep's soul had screeched so loud when she had read the request last night after the dinner hour that he had to actually clap his hands over his ears. All he could hear for an hour after that was _goldkeygoldkeygoldkey_. It was fucking annoying.

But, it was perfect, and exactly what Starshine needed. Get out of the suffocating guild, go on a long job, get a new key, fuck shit up.

Maybe get drunk.

His hand crumpled the request until it was scrunched tightly into a ball.

He would be anything she needed because he owed her everything. And for once in his pathetic life, that shit didn't make his balk, or make him _afraid_ or whatever.

No, the feeling in his chest was nothing but relief and acceptance.

And trust.

God, it was disgusting, but there was so much trust sometimes that it choked him tight enough to leave invisible bruises. But he wanted those bruises to show.

How fucked up was that?

 **-ooo-**

"Oi, wake the fuck up."

Lucy's nose scrunched and wiggled, which he thought in no way was absolutely adorable. Because it wasn't, it was stupid. Like a stupid cute little bunny.

So, he poked her again.

She batted his hand away and he smirked as she rolled over.

"No…'nther f've min' Nasuuu." She slurred with the best of them.

That smirk slid off his face like water off a duck's back. He pinched the blonde's shoulder a bit harder than he probably should have. "Fucking get up."

Lucy shot up and rubbed her skin with an evil glower aimed at him, eyes squinty against the weak morning light. Was it weird that he found that it was more endearing than scary?

Probably.

"What the ever-loving shit Erik? That fucking hurt."

Ha, served her right. Mistaking him for that pink haired menace. "Do I fucking sound like Natsu?"

She only rolled her eyes at him in that time honoured way that she had from putting up with too much bullshit in her life. "What are you even doing here at—" she rolled slightly huffing when she finally found her clock. "—Five fucking…Jesus Erik. Five fifteen in the morning! What could you possibly want so early?"

He shoved the slightly crinkled paper into her face until she was squinting hard at the words, her eyes practically popping out of her head as she read about the reward. Amber shot up to him with tentative hope bleeding through. "Gold, Erik. _Gold_. Do you really think…"

He shrugged. "Maybe. Or maybe they're talking out their asses."

"But what if it's her?"

It was his turn to roll his eye at her. "Then it's fucking her, Starshine. If it isn't, then it's not. Get it?"

"You're right."

He smirked again, toxic as his magic. "I know."

"You're a giant dick, Erik."

He pushed her over into her bed as she laughed at her own words, sitting down next to her as she rolled around with tiny hiccupping giggles. "Shut the fuck up Starshine."

Lucy only smiled at the words, she had heard them enough to know that they were nothing but fond, which made it harder to intimidate her anymore. Like he had ever been able to do that in the first place. Even feeding her to a gigantic clock hadn't broken her spirit.

"Where's the job?"

"Snowdrop."

Her head shot up off her pillow again, her eyes filled with something close to understanding and hesitation. But not pity, never pity. Not from her.

"Erik…"

"What?" His voice was gruffer than he intended. He had a feeling that he knew where this was going, it was just like Lucy to ask.

"You're sure?"

He flicked her in the forehead. "Wouldn't be here if I wasn't."

Lucy sighed and dropped back down to her bed, resigned and accepted his word without another thought. She shuffled around under the covers until she was closer to him than before, cradled between his chest and his arm.

"We walking there?"

His hand came down in a well-practiced movement to play with the ends of her golden hair. It had taken awhile, but casual touching like this was the norm for them when they were alone and comfortable enough. He had absolute trust in her because she deserved it.

"Are you stupid? Do you want this to take six months? We're taking the damn train."

"You know what tomorrow is, don't you? Is this to distract me?"

"Yeah." He would never lie to her.

She was silent for a while. Then—

"I think my mother would have liked you."

And against all odds, she held absolute trust in him.

Cobra never doubted it, because her soul never wavered in that regard. "Course she would."

The smile was audible in her voice. "When do we leave?"

He let the hair slip between his fingers slowly, flowing like silk. "In two hours. I'll wake you up. Is your bag ready?"

"Yeah, always ready. Thanks, Erik." She tapped his chest twice with her fingers, patting the shattered pendant that he always wore under his shirts. Lucy was asleep before he knew it. But her touch burned him for a long while after. It was like his skin was telling him _to remember_.

As if he could _ever_ forget what had brought them together.

He wanted to say something stupid, something idiotic like _anything for you Starshine_. But that was dumb and fucked up, and so incredibly not good.

Didn't make it any less true.

* * *

 **Then**

* * *

There were exactly two people in the entire world (still alive) who knew why Cobra trusted Lucy above everyone else.

The first was Makarov because he was an intuitive old geezer and knew just about everything and had that stare that disarmed even the most stoic bastards. Cobra had spilled everything ten minutes into a meeting with the guild master and hated every minute of it because he despised it when he was made to look weak.

He only felt marginally better when he heard that it only took five minutes for that Rust Bucket to spill his entire life story.

The second was Lucy herself. Because she was the only person there, the only person who truly knew what it looked like when he was vulnerable. The only person who had helped him and hadn't said one word about it. Didn't ask for anything in return.

She was just so undeniably _good_. He had hated her a little for it at the time.

But now.

Gods. Now he was pretty sure he loved her for it.

* * *

 **Now**

* * *

"How much of a fit will Natsu throw once he finds out you left without him?"

"Depends."

"On?"

"Whether or not he remembers to come up for air any time soon."

"Oh. Fuck. Stop thinking that shit."

"Don't even Erik. You weren't the one who walked in on two of your best friends fucking on _your_ couch."

"Doesn't mean I want to know about it now, dumbass."

"If I can share the evil in my brain with anyone, I will. I'll take you down with me."

"Fuck, why do I put up with you?"

"You can't lie worth shit Erik. You love my clumsy ass."

"Keep telling yourself that Starshine."

"I can't believe it's been two years since they got together though. Who ever thought Gray and Natsu would get their own heads out of their asses and you know…"

"Fuck?"

" _Date_ , you idiot."

"I don't think what they do can be classified as dating. With all the fighting and shit? It's like foreplay to them."

"You can hear that?"

"Jesus, it's like a loop of the most violently tender porn I've ever heard. Constantly. They want to like…beat each other senseless in every competition then hold hands and fuck softly. It makes no sense."

"Urg. Stop it. They're like my brothers. Ew."

"I'll take you down with me Starshine. Isn't karma just the worst bitch?"

"I hate you so much right now."

"Lies."

 **-ooo-**

The train arrived in the early afternoon eight days after they had left Magnolia. They disembarked in the lightly sleeting town of Snowdrop. The last place Cobra ever wanted to be again. Although that list didn't include the Tower because Lucy was there and told him it was destroyed, razed to the ground, or water as it were in this case. He didn't even listen to her soul when she said it, she didn't lie. Not to him.

Not about that.

But he was here again in this shitty town with Starshine, just like last time. And the witch was dead, like so incredibly dead that he knew he didn't have to feel this panic, this _shame_ that welled up in his lungs like hoarfrost.

Just like all the other times he had asked her something, Lucy had only told him she had done what she needed to do, and he hadn't asked a single thing more. He didn't listen to her soul for the truth, because he trusted her, implicitly.

Lucy took his arm, just above the sensitive scars left by too tight shackles, and led him away to the Weeping Maiden, the one and only Inn in this tiny little city.

"Come on Erik. Let's get a room."

He didn't argue with her like he usually would. And she didn't say anything after that. Just let him be in silence. That was another reason why he trusted her. She knew him, knew when to push when to pull back, and inexplicably, her soul did the same thing. If he needed it, the sounds that her soul made would drown out everything else when the guild got too loud, or if he needed more silence to hear something from an enemy or when they were out on a job and needed complete concentration, with just a single look had her soul song pulling back.

He had once asked _how the fuck do you do that?_

She had only shrugged.

But just as she did now, the silence was all he needed, just that.

After all, it wasn't every day when you came back to a place where you had felt stripped raw and gutted by a single spell.

For Lucy, though, he would probably do just about anything. As terrifying as that thought was.

 **-ooo-**

They slept mashed up together, a tangle of limbs and snoring and drooling that he wasn't proud of, but who the hell cared anymore? Lucy had seen him at his absolute lowest, what was a little spit between best friends? He's heard her snort like a pig while laughing before so they were pretty equal in black mail material.

And the closeness? The way they sort of gravitated together like that no matter where they were, he only pretended that he didn't notice it. Lucy didn't give a flying fuck about it, not after having a pink haired Dragon Slayer use her as a glorified body pillow for almost a decade now.

Having never had someone touch him so casually before, Cobra felt unmoored for a couple weeks when Lucy had started to unconsciously tap him on the shoulder here, squeeze his arm slightly there. The kicker had been a grateful hug she had given him only six months after he had joined Fairy Tail. All he had done was remember (hear from a little birdy shaped suspiciously like a Demon Barmaid) that it was her birthday and given her a gift.

A necklace with a dangling constellation of Horologium. To everyone else, it had been him showing that he knew the most important things in the world were her spirits. To them, to him and Lucy, it was a joke, probably in poor taste, about how everything had started with a _clock_.

Still, the hug was—nice. He couldn't remember when he had last had one of those. Then it hadn't really stopped, but it was just when it was the two of them. He was more comfortable when they were alone, not that he was necessarily ashamed, but because he was a very private person.

Lucy seemed to know that instinctively. At the guild, the closest they got was sitting right next to each other so that when Starshine was in a particularly flailing mood, her elbows would connect with his ribs from time to time.

Which would dissolve quickly into him elbowing her right back, then to a shoving match until one of them broke out their magic and then all bets were off.

He never pulled his punches with Lucy. If asked, it was because he knew she could take it. She was strong. She was resilient. She was one badass mother.

But he knew deep down it was because he had done so much worse to her and she had stood up taller than before. That Gajeel had beaten her to hell and back and she snarled in his face, Laxus' electricity had flowed through her and her eyes had only blazed brighter. The absolute shit Jackal had pulled…and she had gotten up, given her heart and ripped her soul apart just to save her family.

She was a fierce bastard.

These were things that he had heard from the Slayers souls. Each as impressed as the last. Gajeel and Laxus had all but adopted her as their little sister. Sting hero worshipped her harder than he ever had when he idolized Natsu. Rogue was silently worse than his brother, thinking that the very sun shone out of Starshine's ass because she didn't hold a grudge against him (or his future self) when it had taken Natsu, one of the most forgiving people on the planet, so long to be fine when they were in the same room.

And Cobra. Well, he respected the shit out of her. And thus, the trust had led to the closeness that he seemed to grudgingly accept but secretly coveted.

As Lucy snuffled quietly in her sleep, breath evening out again into light snores, Cobra shook his head at the fact that someone, anyone, could be this close to him after everything that he had done.

* * *

 **Then**

* * *

Crime Sorciere's pardon came completely out of the blue and blindsided them all so badly that even Cobra hadn't even heard it coming, ironic as that was.

Jellal, of all people, seemed the most—flustered by this turn of events that it took almost two months of silently contemplating both his existence and lot in life, for his ultimate decision to just keep doing what they had been doing (helping the people of Fiore as best as they could, especially Fairy Tail) for the past however long. This revelation was surprising to anyone that couldn't hear souls. Especially Angel, who was under the impression that their esteemed leader would be on a one-way trip towards his Amazon lover as soon as possible.

But Cobra could hear that blueberry bastard and even though he still kinda hated Jellal for being so weak as to be controlled by another mage, he could see the merit in their actions. Just because they had been formally pardoned by the law, didn't mean that their acts, especially those under Midnight's direction, were any less…monstrous.

Crime Sorciere had been drifting from town to town in Fiore for almost a full year after they had been pardoned for their crimes when Richard finally put his foot down.

He wanted to find his brother.

With that came a rash of requests (demands, more like) from everyone in the wandering guild. Sawyer and Midnight wanted to go back to Fairy Tail, having bonded with some of the wizards there. Jellal wanted to join them, but he was such a self-sacrificing bastard that it took Meredy threatening to bitch slap him to admit it.

Angel practically direct-lined herself to her sister's side, vowing never to leave it again.

Meredy felt her place was with Mermaid Heel, she had left the next day with a smirk and a wave.

And Cobra, he…

…stayed.

His guild, his purpose, was disbanded, broken. But he didn't begrudge his family for trying to find their own happiness. They had enough shit in their lives that they deserved a little goodness.

He had no plans, even though he was invited to go back to Fairy Tail with the others, he left his options open. Wide, wide open.

So, he drifted through Earthland, seeing things, hearing things that he never had. Just for the hell of it. From the reflective pools in the Red Plains in Seven that held stones that only sparkled in star light. (He stole one of those.) To the frigid High Steppes of Iceberg that boasted the tallest mountain in Earthland. Took a boat to Minstrel, which was a massive mistake, hiked the Giant's Backbone, a deadly trail through the foothills. Took a wrong turn somewhere and accidentally crossed the borders into Joya.

He had just enough money to make it back into Stella by train. But he wasn't done, he was finally seeing everything he couldn't in the Tower. For the first time in his life, he had no master, no leader. He was his own person, a man that could do anything.

So, he did.

* * *

 **Now**

* * *

"So according to your request, which you sent to all the guilds in Earthland practically if my understanding is correct, you need someone to find a…plant?"

The woman who had posted the request looked like a stereotypical grandmother complete with tiny round body, warm smile, and a house that smelled like baking gingersnaps. It immediately put his teeth on edge, poison pooling in his mouth in advance. From his experience from working with Fairy Tail and against them for a while there, it was like the mages the guild pumped out had a blaring sign above their head that screamed and blinked in bright lights about how they invited trouble. It was as if disasters actively sniffed them out and the worst perpetrator was currently seated right next to him interrogating this little old lady with a scrutiny that was probably unwarranted.

What the hell ever though, screw being polite. He had almost backed out of the meeting the moment he had stepped into the requester's house. For some reason, he couldn't fucking hear her soul and he couldn't smell anything over the scent of cinnamon sugar.

But if this panned out, then Lucy could get something she had wanted, that key that she had been looking all over Earthland for.

"Yes, it's a very specific herb, one that only grows under the snow and ice at the summit of the Sunderheim."

Cobra pulled in another breath trying to scent the air that way, but fuck, the cloying aroma of cookies pervaded everything. His goddamn clothes were going to smell like pastries for weeks after this, he was sure.

The woman (who had introduced herself as Ms. Potts) waved down at herself with both hands. "And as you can see, I'm no spring chicken anymore, dearie. I couldn't climb that mountain even if I wanted to."

A timer dinged in the background and Ms. Potts tittered and excused herself to pull the gingersnaps out of the oven.

Lucy leaned over the request still sitting in her lap, whispering because she knew he could hear her still. "I don't trust her. Something isn't right, I can't put my finger on it though."

He swept his fingers over the back of her left hand, her fingers finally unclenching from where they were balled up on her thigh at the familiar touch. "Trust your instincts, but let me try a damn cookie first. Who the fuck knows what's in them?"

Lucy didn't argue with him. It was logical, his body could process things that would kill her in an instant. He was glad that Starshine wasn't an unreasonable person. That she didn't see this as him trying to be a knight in shining armour, that he didn't see her as a damsel in distress.

She nodded slightly.

A plate of those damned cookies settled with a quiet clatter on the table in front of them. "There we go, fresh from the oven. Go ahead dearies, try one."

Cobra reached out and took one, broke off a piece and looked into the little old lady's bright eyes as he chewed and swallowed.

Then he smirked. Ms. Pott's kindly smile fell as he let the poison build up in his mouth slip out in a heady fog.

"Monkshood and Foxglove? Really? Is that why you used a fuckton of cinnamon and nutmeg?"

Lucy whipped around and silently summoned both Leo and Virgo who leered dangerously out of their gates. "A compliance potion?" The demure mask that she used when meeting new clients slipped away as the true absolute badass pushed forward. Lucy absolutely hated secrets, hated when people weren't fucking straight with her.

Thank Gods Cobra didn't give enough of a shit to lie to her, ever. He was just too blunt for that.

"You fucking tried to dose us with a serum that would make us so suggestible that we wouldn't be able to not answer your questions?"

Ms. Potts, or whatever the fuck her name actually was opened her mouth to speak but Cobra held up his hand. "Why the fuck can't I hear your soul? And why can't I smell you?"

Lucy whispered from beside him, eyes never leaving the kindly old woman who had just tried to poison them. "Why didn't you tell me?"

He kept silent for a moment.

The blonde put two and two together faster than he ever could, eyes narrowing in distaste. "It's a damn glamour, isn't it?"

Ms. Potts disappeared like ripples on a pond. Or the image of her did, at least.

Loke squawked from behind the couch as it wavered and shimmered, finally dissipating like the rest of the house they were in.

Cobra hissed his displeasure as his ass hit the freezing ground, concrete, and stone decidedly less comfortable than the cushions had been. But his brain was stuck on something that he had only heard, only seen, once before. "Starshine. Is she….?"

Lucy was standing, being guided up by Virgo and nodded her head. "Yes. Undoubtedly. Have you ever known any other kind of person able to rob you of your senses so completely?"

He snarled as scales burst over his skin, sizzling with his magic. "Witch."

Lucy waved both Leo and Virgo back through their gates, their expressions both bemused and slightly wary at his reaction. But they trusted their key wielder's judgment and Cobra was thankful for that. She turned away from him and screamed up at the empty decrepit shack he was only just noticing, whip uncoiling from her waist in practiced movements.

"Show yourself, coward!"

It took an entire agonizing minute before a spindly woman drifted suddenly from the shadows as if she had melted out of the walls themselves. "You've guessed right, it was indeed a glamour."

Cobra was struggling to get his breathing under control. Of all the shit they had to encounter here, of all the places. A witch here, in Snowdrop, _again_. It couldn't be a fucking coincidence.

"Why make the request in the first place if you only wanted to deceive the wizards that made it up here? Why the truth serum? Why the glamour?"

The woman snarled and tried to take a step forward but was stopped by a snap from that deadly whip cracked down in front of toes.

"I didn't fucking do it just for anyone. That request was specifically tailored to the person I wanted up here." She spat the words as if they were so toxic that she couldn't keep them in her mouth anymore. "No one gives a shit about golden keys anymore. They aren't common, not after _someone_ collected almost every single one of them, and I have it on good authority that there are only three celestial mages left in Earthland. And one of them doesn't actively practice anymore. And one of them has been searching high and low all over the world for that key. Leaving quite the trail for anyone to follow."

Lucy stiffened and covered her keys with one hand, angling her body away with a choppy movement as her eyes widened at the implication. They had been lured up here, there hadn't been a fucking key for them to find. "You will never get these keys."

Black eyes glowed with fury as the witch glared hatefully at them both. "Stupid girl, I don't want those worthless keys."

"Then what could you possibly want?"

"Revenge."

Cobra sighed with an eye roll. That age-old excuse was damn annoying. "Fuck you, lady. Who the hell are you anyway? I've never met you before and from the expression she's making, Starshine doesn't recognize you either."

The witch stretched out to her full height and scoffed down at them. "My name is Tamsin. Tamsin Willard."

Cobra watched as Lucy's face drained of all colour before she turned and sprinted for him, hand reaching out for his. Mouth forming the words he recognized to change into a Stardress.

The witch cackled and snapped her fingers, loud in the still air.

Everything slowed down for a moment before there was an explosion of white.

—then nothing.

* * *

 **Then**

* * *

Shortly after he had made it to Stella, he knew he needed more money if he wanted a hot meal and a warm bed, and maybe even a train ride back into Fiore. He was tired of sleeping in the woods and catching his meals, wanted a damn sandwich in his stomach. There was only so many rabbits you can eat before wanting something more substantial.

So, with the anonymity he had here in Stella and the fact that they didn't have a working guild system and a substantial lack of practicing wizards who stayed within the borders and hadn't flocked to Magnolia or Hargeon yet, Cobra had many choices of jobs that paid a substantial number of Jewels, more than enough to get him back into familiar surroundings.

But there was something about this one request that had him immediately accepting and starting out towards the mountain known to the locals as the Sunderheim. Snowdrop was a small, old town rife with superstitions and everyone told him to be careful. There was something there, everyone could feel it that seeped evil into everything around it. The air, the wildlife, even the water was bitter.

They told him to be cautious, to think about this before he left.

But whatever was up there, it was taking children. That shit just didn't fucking fly with him.

* * *

 **Now**

* * *

He woke up with aching muscles, a massive headache and he could tell that he had at least one gash on his forehead because the damn thing kept dripping blood in his one good eye.

It took a moment before his vision stopped wobbling enough for him to notice that he was in a large cavern, cave, dark place… _whatever_. He could barely see, which didn't have anything to do with the blood that slowly dripped down off his chin. He was a Slayer, even in the darkest spaces he could usually use even the smallest amount of light to see more than a regular human.

Which probably meant—

Cobra glanced up above him to see that he was being suspended above the floor by his wrists. It wasn't the manner of which he was being held to the rock wall behind him that made his blood boil (even though he had seen enough manacles in the Tower to last him ten lifetimes) it was the runes that flowed choppily over the metal as if they had been carved in haste.

The witch hadn't anticipated that he would be there too. Lucy had been searching high and low for that Golden Key completely by herself, without Natsu and her team, stirring up the muck and mire all on her lonesome for so long that the witch probably assumed she was always alone.

Which made the runes even more problematic, or perhaps less. The witch may have done it as fast as she could and had made a mistake somewhere.

He couldn't read them per say, but he was intimately familiar with their combination.

They were just like the cuffs that held his arms when he had been imprisoned by the magic council, used for a single purpose.

Magic suppression.

Which meant—

His head whipped around so fast that his neck cracked painfully, but he gave it no mind when he saw to his right that Lucy was strung up in the same way, head bowed, golden hair matted in the back where her blood had soaked through from a head wound he couldn't see at this angle.

That made him growl, something that he couldn't help no matter the situation. His senses were dulled, his soul listening and Dragon Slayer magic suppressed so that it was writhing just beneath his skin, where he could feel it but not _access it_. It was maddening.

Even though the magic couldn't make a connection the innate unconscious abilities, like increased muscle mass and dexterity from being a Dragon Slayer didn't just disappear, although the ridiculous over powered strength had.

He glanced back over to Lucy and realized in stunned silence, mouth gaping, heart hammering that she was awake again, looking at him, mouth moving…but he couldn't hear a single thing she said. It wasn't just her soul he couldn't hear, but everything.

He had almost forgotten the side effect that magic suppression had on him. It made him weaker, more vulnerable than he hadn't been since he was a child. Since the Tower. Since before his magic had manifested.

Suddenly, the silence was overwhelming. He hadn't the chains jingle when he moved, nor had he heard his neck crack when he had whipped around or heard the growl in his throat earlier. He had felt all those things without the corresponding sounds that would have accompanied them normally.

His eyes snapped back to Lucy and he shook his head in jerky little movements that made his vision swim sickly. It probably wasn't helped that he couldn't seem to pull enough air into his lungs or that there was an iron band around his heart, weighing it down until it was dangling somewhere between his knees. "Lucy—I can't…I"

He stopped speaking, the words dying in his throat, tasting worse than ash and dust. He could feel his tongue and mouth moving, but couldn't _hear_ his words.

Cobra was terrified, and that hadn't happened since he was last here in Snowdrop. Since that damn witch.

It took him longer than it probably should have to realize that one of Lucy's hands was moving in a pattern, a very practiced pattern, over and over again. One that it took him minutes to focus on, but only seconds to recognize.

 _Breathe._

She was signing for him, spelling out that single word repeatedly. Cobra had almost forgotten that she was fluent. Or rather he had pushed that knowledge back into a locked part of his brain filled with things he would rather forget.

 _Breathe._

He took a breath. Then another, until he felt his hammering heart calm down.

 _Breathe._

She was only fluent in sign language because of him. Because of this liability. Because of this…weakness, this defect that he was born with.

 _Breathe._

So, he breathed deep in that cave, because Lucy was asking him too.

 _Breathe._

Wasn't it just so sickeningly ironic, that a soul-listener had been born completely and utterly deaf?

* * *

 **Then**

* * *

Cobra had found that witch in Stella easily enough, too easy if he was being honest with himself. She knew someone would eventually come for her, and had waited for him to march up the Sunderheim like a complete jackass and fall spectacularly into a trap.

It was the first time since facing Natsu down in a battle that his magic had failed him. Later, much later, he found out that he couldn't hear through glamours because they themselves were a type of suppression magic mixed with illusions that were both real and then not real.

The fight between them was bitter and drawn out. She had knives coated in poison that she slashed him with but realized quickly that they gave him extra energy when his body metabolized the little gift she had been granting him.

He couldn't hear her approach, couldn't hear her intention or her muscles as they moved. Didn't know what was real and what wasn't.

Cobra's venom did little more than slow her down as she seemed to have a ridiculous immunity. He knew it was magic but didn't seem to be something that she could innately do. He thought belatedly it had something to do with the pendant that hung from her neck, an all-seeing eye with a massive green stone worked through the middle.

"Why do you continue to fight little snake? Why not just curl up and fucking die already?"

Those words angered him beyond sense. "I'm not a damn coward, bitch. Where the fuck are the children you took?"

Her smile was more toxic than all the venom in his body and suddenly the dread in his body made him almost violently ill on the forest floor.

"Gone…"

"What the fuck did you do to them!?" He was yelling, his anger pumping blood and adrenaline, venom and fire through his veins.

"Disposed of. What use is something when it's all used up…?"

He moved faster than he ever had in his life, darting out with claws and teeth, all instinct and monstrous, _animalistic_ intent.

The witch was slashing with spells left and right, throwing potions that splashed and burned bright against his skin. But he didn't stop coming, couldn't stop moving.

Nothing would stop him in this.

Fury poured off him in waves until finally he got his clawed hand into the side of her stomach and his teeth at the juncture of her neck and shoulder.

He tore chunks out of her, clamped down and ripped with his fangs.

Blood pooled and viscera tore.

She screeched and swore loud in his ears until they rang.

It tasted viler than anything he had ever had in his mouth before, bitter with disgusting power that came from innocence and fear. Cobra was a fucking bastard, he had killed, tortured, maimed, destroyed and laid waste before. But he had never, not a single time, gone after children, born or unborn. That was his line, that was the thing that he would never cross. They were innocent, they could grow and make a living, something that he had never had until recently. They could play and imagine, they could have a childhood, and he would never willfully take away something like that from anyone. None of the mages in Ocracion Seis would ever step across that line, and even though they were his family and friends, he would tear them apart with his bare hands if they had tried to make him do that. Brain was wise to never try it.

But this witch, this _creature_ had stepped right over that line and talked about a source of pure innocence as if it was a _thing_ , like a battery that could be used to gain power then thrown away and discarded. She didn't deserve to stay breathing.

So, he tore and he clawed and she screamed and threw everything she had at him in retaliation. She sunk her nails into the skin of his neck then pulled back just as quickly as the flesh of her fingers started to bubble and peel. Bitch didn't think he was poisonous as well as venomous, but her immunity was incredibly high. Her bones should have melted.

His fangs pumped every toxin he could think of into her body through her neck but it just made her whine and twist in his hold. Damn that pendant was good, but he wasn't in the right frame of mind to try to rip it off her neck. He dug in a little deeper, trying to tear through as many arteries and veins as possible.

He was so sure that she would fucking bleed out and die that he didn't see her other hand come out of nowhere, didn't hear the spell she muttered quickly under her breath.

The witch slapped him in the forehead and the resulting magical explosion tossed him through a sturdy pine tree and flattened the rest into a nearly perfect circle, but he didn't see any of that until later.

Because he had already passed out.

He didn't see the witch burn her wounds closed with green fire and limp away until she was swallowed up by a cloud of smoke.

He didn't see the lightly glowing rune scribed just between his eyes.

The next thing he saw more than a day later were two gigantic amber eyes filled with concern he didn't want. But it was better than pity.

He didn't realize it then, and he wouldn't for a while, but those eyes would be attached to the person that would come to mean everything to him.

* * *

 **Now**

* * *

An indeterminate time later (there was no light, no window in this cave), when his breathing had slowed and deepened to something much more manageable, Cobra signed _Thanks_ back at Lucy.

Her answering smile filled with relief was small, but it was something.

 _Alright_? Her fingers moved smoothly, a little slower than usual. She either realized that he couldn't really see her or maybe thought the angle was wrong for him to totally catch everything if she went at the same speed she had only a year before this.

Lucy was so fucking smart. So damn intelligent that it made him grit his teeth sometimes but also swelled with so much damn pride it was lucky he didn't puke it up some days.

He nodded back. He was fine.

Or he would be fucking fine when he got out of these damn restraints.

Because Lucy didn't have the same range of motion and the fact that her fingers were the only part of her other than her head she could truly move, she had to spell out everything letter by letter. But that was fine with him, as long as she kept _speaking_ at him, he could focus on that and not on the fact that the silence in his ears would slowly make him lose his damn mind.

 _Anything hurt_?

He shook his head again, but crooked an eyebrow in an answering question. Luckily there seemed to be enough light for Lucy to see him, barely, but it was enough. Compared to the fact that even in the dark his eyes usually allowed him to see as if he was standing outside in direct sunlight, it was shitty. But it was better than nothing.

 _No. I'm fine._

He scowled back and she rolled her eyes.

 _Head hurts_.

Cobra snorted, glad that her injury wasn't that bad. She seemed coherent enough, eyes bright and calculating. She was always thinking, always planning. Thank the Gods for that.

 _Lion?_

She grimaced and shook her chains above her head. The script that flowed over the restraints curled elegantly without a break in the runes. _Suppression magic. Special made for stars_. _I think_.

He nodded as his eyes tracked her hands carefully. The witch had thought of everything when it came to Lucy, but perhaps she had made a mistake when dealing with him. This witch probably thought that he was just a poison user. He didn't know for sure, but the runes on his shackles were too familiar to be anything but one for general magic. Her face earlier when he had taken a bite of the cookie and hadn't succumbed to her tricks was no act. That was genuine shock, and he should know for someone who was incredibly adept at reading lips, it was just a step up to reading expressions and body language.

It made it easier in the Tower.

He signed again. _Keys?_

 _Gone_. She answered back, fingers choppy in her anger. _Close though_.

That was good. Lucy could still feel a connection inside her, that probably meant she could pull a Stardress out of her ass when she got out of the restraints.

Which made him mad all over again. Starshine should _never_ know the feel of restraints against her skin. Not again. Not after what he had done to her with the clock. Not after he knew just what shackles did when they bit into flesh and bone.

Who the ever-loving fuck was this bitch anyways? Why had she wanted Lucy? Why come after her in the first place?

His eyes burned as he signed his question. _Who is she?_

Lucy hesitated but relented when she saw his expression. _Sister._

Sister?

Sister of—he caught the pointed look she shot the necklace that had slipped out of his open collar, the jewel suddenly a burning presence against his throat. Constricting him better than any snake ever could.

No.

 _No_.

The fucking sister of the other witch? The one that had he had met on the Sunderheim a year ago? The one that had disarmed him so completely?

 _What?_

That was the only word he signed over and over again. He was stunned and angry, but he had a feeling he now knew why this bitch had gone after Lucy so specifically.

He had never asked. And Starshine had never said anything past _I did what needed to be done, nothing more_ , _Erik._ It had been the first time she had ever called him that, called him by the name he had gone by so long ago and nearly forgotten how it sounded on someone's lips.

She never stopped.

It was then, while he signed a single word on a broken loop at the blonde, that he actually did want to know what happened. Did want to know exactly what Lucy did that had made the sister of the witch go through so much trouble to find Lucy.

Why she had fastened a necklace with a destroyed jewel around his neck that day.

 _Tell me everything._

She shook her head, gold hair flying in a curtain around her face. _Not now. Later. Promise. I'll show you everything. I promise Erik._

The way she signed his name threw him out of his little world of frustration and annoyance and anger. She hadn't ever signed his name, spelling it like that letter by letter before. Usually, she just used a bastardized version of something between _snake_ and _cobra_ that he knew meant _him_ when she signed. It had been a year since she had used it, though.

He maybe kind of missed it. When she had first used it, it had been a stupid mistake when she had tried to sign his name. She was flustered and blushing and he had laughed even though he couldn't hear himself. She had smacked him and made a damn point to use it constantly just to piss him off enough to get a rise out of him.

It was a little ritual they had. She butchered the sign. He would growl. She would smirk at him. He would flick her in the forehead and then when the elbows had started flying and the pinching (she had surprisingly strong fingers for someone so tiny) started, Leo would sigh at them like he was their babysitter and they were errant children.

Sometimes the lion _would_ have to separate them to opposite sides of the camp, only to have Lucy grin and flick tiny pebbles into his ridiculous mane of auburn hair until he inevitably noticed.

That sign was his name from then on.

She looked at him, and he looked back. Lucy didn't know just how much he fucking trusted her with everything. She had been the one to get his ass in gear last time, took the point in tracking and finding food because he fucking couldn't. She got him out of the goddamn mess that he had gotten himself into last time around, and this time it would be his turn to get them both out of these restraints.

 _Alright_.

Then—

 _I have an idea._

He grimaced and glanced up, determined and only slightly put off about what he was about to do. He took one last glance at Lucy who had that stupid pinched look on her face like she had smelled a fart and was too polite to say anything. It meant she knew what he was about to do and didn't like it one bit, probably wanted to offer to do it instead because she was a self-sacrificing bastard like that.

But she didn't open her mouth like others in the guild would have, didn't argue his choice. Because she knew it was the logical choice to get them both out as fast as possible. He was the one who needed to do it for at least three reasons, three _good_ reasons.

He slipped a sharp smile over his face and slammed one iron shackle into the bone of his thumb on the opposite hand.

It shattered with a crunch he couldn't hear, but sure as hell felt all the way down to his fucking toes.

* * *

 **Then**

* * *

It took him five days (or so Lucy said) before he was coherent enough to sit up in a slight daze next to a glowing fire at twilight.

He knows her, Lucy that is. How could he forget? How could he ever forget the clock or the way she derailed all their carefully laid plans with nothing more than her mind and determination?

The Fairy with the golden hair.

"What the fuck?" Not the best first words, but his everything hurt and he didn't really give enough of a fuck to care about what flew out of his mouth.

But those first words shattered the peace for him. He knew he had spoken, but he couldn't hear anything.

Cobra didn't realize he was hyperventilating before two small hands pushed him up from where he was wheezing bent over the ground. He tried to bat them away, but he was still weak.

Why was he still so fucking weak? He should have healed by now.

His eyes snapped to the Fairy's mouth, tracking their movements just like his mother had taught him before she was murdered and he was made a slave.

"Cobra."

He frowned as she kept speaking, but his mind wasn't catching up. The words that he wanted to hear but couldn't, kept slipping through his brain like water through a sieve. He couldn't grasp all of it. Too fast. Too much. It was too soon.

"…you alright?"

He growled again. He hated when people were kind to him like this, all pity and deceiving smiles. In his current state, he didn't know if it was genuine or fake or whatever. He couldn't hear her soul. Couldn't hear her words. Couldn't create the venom he was famous for. His strength was gone and he was just…Erik.

Cobra _hated_ Erik most of the time.

He shook his head, willing her to stop for a moment as his world spun out of focus.

Nauseous and tired, he slipped back into unconsciousness and the last thing he saw was the little blonde Fairy's mouth shape his name.

He didn't wake up for two more days, but this time he felt more like himself and the sight of Lucy reading a very old book by yet another fire (or perhaps the same fire) didn't startle him nearly as badly.

He winced and clapped his hands over his ears because ironically, the overwhelming silence was more deafening than anything he had heard before. He despised silence. It reminded him of his seven years being captive by the magic council, but that wasn't too bad because he was in a contained cell and he was looked after by Lahar.

Lahar had known his secret. So had Brain.

Food, water, shelter, clothes, all provided for. But here out in the open, with everything confusing and silent, with a woman he had taken advantage of and fed to a gigantic clock sitting less than six feet away from him…not his idea of the best time.

She had turned to him and started to speak almost immediately once she realized he was conscious again. But this time, it was too dark for him to track her lips. He couldn't make anything out past his name, the word cymbal, and the fact that she kept gesturing to the book in her hands.

He shook his head again, thankful that his head didn't swim this time, and pulled all his shit together. It was obvious that she didn't realize that he couldn't hear him, and not a single person was left alive on Earthland that knew that without his magic, he was stone deaf.

"I can't fucking hear you Blondie."

Her mouth stopped moving and she pursed her lips in either annoyance or contemplation. Or she could have been constipated. He didn't know her well enough to judge.

She held up a single finger and dove quickly for a bag just out of sight of the fire and came back with a notebook and a pen.

Well, that worked too.

She uncapped the pen and started to scribble madly like she had so many ideas in her brain and they just couldn't wait to leap onto the page.

So, he rolled his eye and waited for her to finish.

She turned the page to him and offered him the pen.

 **Cobra, I don't know if you remember me, but my name is Lucy Heartfilia from the Fairy Tail guild. I have a feeling the fact that you can't hear anything is because of a symbol sitting between your eyes on your forehead. It glows orange sometimes. I think it's some type of rune. I've been looking it up in some books I've had brought from the spirit world. Are you alone? Where's the rest of Crime Sorciere?**

He huffed and hugged a knee to his chest feeling slightly self-conscious. But no wonder he had thought she was saying cymbal. He rubbed his forehead in thought. "Course I fucking remember you. You think I don't remember every person I've sacrificed to a giant clock?"

He didn't think she would laugh, throwing her whole head back in mirth. A tiny part of him wished he could hear it. "And yeah I'm alone. Why wouldn't I be? And what do you mean Crime Sorciere? We disbanded almost ten months ago." Give or take, he wasn't always around a calendar but it was spring now and they had parted ways in summer. So, ten months seemed just about right. She should know that, seeing that her guild mark was still in place on her hand.

Lucy looked down and grabbed the notebook back from him so swiftly he jolted away. He wasn't used to the fact he couldn't hear everything coming.

If Lucy saw it, she didn't comment.

 **I've been away from the guild for…a while. Longer than a year. But I send postcards back sometimes so they know I'm alive at least. I didn't know you guys disbanded.**

"Our esteemed leader, Midnight, and Racer all joined Fairy Tail. Angel joined Sabertooth. Meredy went to Mermaid Heel. Hoteye is searching for his brother."

 **I actually ran into Wally a couple months ago when I was tracking down a lead in Sin. He was working on a cruise ship that sailed from there to Midi and back to Minstrel. I hope they find each other. I'm glad we'll have more guildmates when I get home.**

Suddenly he remembered a very loud, very obnoxious pink haired Slayer that was practically attached to Lucy's side the last time they had…encountered one another. "Where's the flamethrower?"

 **Back at Fairy Tail, I think? I've been out searching for something I lost for almost a year and a half, chasing leads and following whispers around the world. I'm assuming the Master threatened to pull his S class status if he followed me. He would have had to hold something over Laxus and Gajeel's heads too. This was something I had to do alone.**

"I can understand that." And he could. He of all people knew that sometimes it was necessary. But this time, going up against the witch, he shouldn't have been. And maybe, fuck, maybe he needed help. Especially now, with the fact, he couldn't hear jack shit. He was useless.

 **So, what happened? I only came up the mountain because I just happened to see that massive magical discharge from down in town and the citizens asked me to investigate. I found you unconscious against a boulder with that symbol on your head in a circle of pine trees that had been flattened.**

"I went after a goddamn witch. But I couldn't fucking hear anything. Not her steps, not her, not her soul. Fucking nothing." He was getting worked up by the end of his sentence, and he chanced a glance up at Lucy again, just willing her to look at him with pity or sadness.

There was nothing of the sort in her eyes, just an intensity that probably meant that she was actually listening to him.

The words he wanted to say started to jumble in his mouth and in his frustration his hands shot out in choppy movements, and it was like that saying said, you never really forgot how to ride a bike. And in his case, he never really forgot these hand movements.

 _I'm fucking deaf again._

He wanted to say it out loud, and hear it. But he couldn't so he just signed it into the still midnight air.

Lucy's eyes shot down to his hands. Drinking in his signs with rapt attention.

 **I can see patterns, structures. Those movements aren't random, are they?**

He sighed again. "No. It's a language. Sign language."

 **How do you know sign language?**

"Someone taught me."

 **Why?**

Before he had a chance to think about whether or not he wanted to tell Lucy that he was defective. She put it together. Her mouth formed the words and he could only really make out the one for _deaf_.

So, he nodded.

He was really thankful that they didn't speak again that night.

* * *

 **Now**

* * *

Slipping his broken hand through the shackle holding him was uncomfortable and so incredibly painful that Cobra knew he whimpered once, and he hoped it was quiet enough that it didn't arise suspicion. Skin and tissue warped and tore from the sharp edges, his blood, morbidly enough slicking the way. But then suddenly—

His left hand was free.

So, he reached up without a single glance at Lucy and broke his thumb on the other side as he dangled from one arm, his shoulder joint screamed in pain at every movement.

This time he didn't have to pull, his body weight yanked him down to the dirt and mud. He had just enough time to lay both hands flat on the ground (lest his hands heal wonkily) before every single one of his senses went into overload.

The worst was his hearing, as both all the sounds that he had been missing as well as the souls of the people around him careened into his brain again after having been deaf for less than a day. As black spots danced in his vision, he remembered the last time this had happened and the fact that he was laid out unconscious from sensory overload for damn near three days after he got his magic back.

He staggered to his feet and rotated his thumbs in place, wincing at the pain but thankful for the fact that he had his advanced healing back.

"Cobra wha—"

He slapped a single hand over Lucy's face and she arched a brow at him in question. He held up his hand and signed in front of her eyes. So fucking grateful to hear her voice again, but he needed for her to be silent.

 _She's still here. Be quiet._

She nodded as her eyes widened in understanding.

Cobra reached up and gripped the metal of the bands that held Lucy tight against the rock wall. She glanced up once, then back to his eyes, then nodded and gritted her teeth.

He needed to do this as silently as possible, so he couldn't just rip Lucy away from the cuffs, and he couldn't smash them like he had done his, they were too heavy, so he let his magic (thank the Gods that was back) slither up his arms and into his hands, letting the smallest amount of venom out of his palms and into the metal.

Lucy hissed as quietly as possible as the purple cloud eroded away the shackles into a light dust. Cobra held Lucy as she slumped to the ground and quickly as he could, wrapped his lips around her wrists and laved his tongue over the bruising bleeding welts.

Only Lucy knew that his…bodily fluids created a potent antivenin to just about every fucking toxin in Earthland. Her let her hands drop when he knew she would be fine.

 _Still so fucking weird. Every time._ Her hands were fluid and graceful, just like her voice was when she spoke. He could hear it in his mind every time she signed.

 _Whatever, Stashine._ He hoped that his dry sarcasm was coming across from his hands.

 _Where is she?_

Cobra shut his eye and concentrated and silently thanked the fact that Lucy's soul dimmed so that it sang very quietly in the background. He still didn't know how she did that, but it was fucking helpful.

 _Not far. That way…Somewhere close, enclosed. Through a door. Keys are there too._

He watched as she nodded and rotated her arms a couple times to get the blood flow back.

 _Stardress?_

 _Go for subtlety. Use the lion later._

Lucy nodded and slipped silently into Ares' dress. For some reason, either because the spirit was incredibly shy and soft-spoken, or something to do with the wool, Lucy was completely silent when in this Stardress. He could hear her soul of course, but everything else was dampened until she was like a shadow.

A shadow in a very short, adorably inappropriate fluffy dress.

And thigh highs.

 _Let's go Starshine. We've got a bitch to skewer._

He didn't notice the grimace that Lucy shot him or just how close his signed words hit close to home.

* * *

 **Then**

* * *

"So, what now?"

 **Now, we hunt down the witch that did this to you. I already have some ideas about what the hell is going on. I had been under the impression that the symbol on your forehead was a rune meant for silence, or one to make you lose your senses.**

"No. I've…I was born like this."

 **Then my second assumption was right. It's magic suppression, and it's difficult to do without the correct magic or runes. The one on your head looks so different from anything the Rune Knights or Levy or even Freed write that I didn't know where to start.**

His eye snapped up towards her. Why was she helping him? "Why are you doing this?"

 **Doing what?**

"Helping me, after…"

 **Far worse has happened and I've learned to forgive and forget. Everyone deserves a second chance.**

"Your guild is fucked up."

Here, Lucy laughed again, eyes shining and happy.

 **You bet your ass they are. And so am I. My best friend is a fucking demon, my older brothers have both tortured me and I was turned into a massive fish because of a clock. My mother died because of her magic, I've waged war on an immortal King and re-written an entire soul-book from memory. I was frozen in time for seven years, been crushed, broken, scarred and burned. I held a future version of myself while I died once. My entire life is fucked.**

Cobra chuckled and shook his head. "What about what you're searching for, you would uproot your plan to help me catch a witch?"

 **Yes.**

No hesitation, no questions, no thinking about it. Just a straightforward answer. It rattled him enough that instead of answering out loud he signed the word _why_?

 **What was that sign?**

"Oh…uhm…it was the word why."

 **Do it again.**

So, he did, again and again until, to his great surprise, Lucy copied him. It was a little choppy, a little too slow. But she did it.

 **If I help you with this, I'll only want one thing in return.**

This, he understood. Tit for tat, compensation. He knew nothing ever came for fucking free. Not the kindness of strangers, not anything. "What could I possibly offer you?"

 **Teach me sign language. I want to learn, and I have a feeling this is going to be a long journey and I'm going to run out of pages in this book. It's the last one I have.**

 _Why?_

 **Because it will be easier than writing because then we could talk to each other without people listening in. Strategically it's brilliant, and it's interesting. An entire language that only uses hand and arm gestures.**

Cobra was too stunned to do anything more than nod yes. He had never shown sign language to anyone before, it had been only his mother and him communicating back and forth like that. There were magical implants of course that could have corrected it as a child, but they were too poor to buy it. Then he was ripped from his home, placed in a Tower and used as a slave. Then Brain had pulled him out of there and taught him magic…then when the soul listening manifested, he could hear _everything_.

 **Where did you learn this? I've never even heard of something like this.**

"My mother taught it to me when I was small, before…before _that time_. I can read lips when the light is good."

Lucy smiled and placed the book down, pen on top of the closed velum cover. She reached down her shirt and before Cobra could even comprehend when she was doing, she pulled out a delicate gold chain, holding a twisted lump of metal, rusted through and looked like it was about to crumble apart into dust.

"What the hell is that?"

Lucy disregarded the question for a moment and only looked down at the lump in her hand, then back up so he could watch her lips move. "I want to thank you for telling me something about your mother, Cobra. I should know just how precious memories are when they come from someone like that. So, I wanted to show you something I got from my mother. This key—" And he could see now where once it could have resembled a golden gate key, but only barely. "—was given to me by her, along with two others. One was stolen when she was sick, Capricorn, but this one, Aquarius was my oldest and only friend."

Cobra let her speak, silent as he could be as she told him of Tartaros, and exactly how much she had lost and what she had gained after.

"For the longest time, I thought I had killed her. But no, she's out there again, somewhere in Earthland. I just have to find her key."

She fell silent after that and tucked her prized possession down her shirt, he glimpsed a flash of a black tattoo but decided to not question it. Lucy was an enigma of sorts, and against his better judgment, he felt a strange understanding fall between them as they watched the sun travel through the sky.

But he knew that in his state now, he wouldn't be able to do anything on her own. So, with a sigh and a grimace, he accepted her help without saying another word about their mothers.

"Where do we go from here Blondie?"

That question launched a journey that he didn't know he would enjoy so much. The days of silence were broken up with teaching Lucy everything he knew and she devoured the knowledge like a five-course meal. What he didn't know (technical terms and the like for all types of magic) Lucy called forth a giant cross from the Spirit World and borrowed book after book. They traipsed all over Earthland, following leads and connecting dots, talking to dozens of people with even the smallest connection to witchcraft going off nothing but his description of the bitch.

But before they had left, he had led Lucy towards where he had met the witch. They had found a hut, searched it high and low for clues on the witch's whereabouts. They had found a trap door (which he thought was so fucking cliché.) Lucy had laughed at that and bounded down those steps before he could tell her to be careful dammit, it was fucking dark down there.

He wished she had never turned on the light.

Blood saturated everything, old and new, smelling of rot and spoiled iron, death, and desecration. Lucy had taken one look, doubled over and heaved the stewed rabbit they had had for lunch all over the floor.

It was then that he remembered the reason he had gone after this witch in the first place.

"Children."

 _What?_ (He had taught her simple terms earlier that morning. Like colours and questions. The alphabet. That woman soaked up knowledge like a fucking sponge.)

"She was abducting children. That's why I rushed into this. I thought that I could save them. But she said…"

Lucy was so pale and horror-struck that he tried to usher her out the trap door again, away from the crimson that had been spilled on the stone floor. She shook her hands at him and waited, grimacing at the smell, for him to keep talking.

"She said that they had been…used up."

"I'll kill her for this." He read her lips then, but it wasn't as if he needed them as a guide. He could see the intent on her face, in her eyes, easily enough.

They left that killing room and searched the surrounding area.

Lucy heard nothing, saw nothing more, but Cobra—well he had found an area of the forest that had been disturbed. The ground over tuned, the leaves of the surrounding plants waxy.

They left that forest, climbed down the Sunderheim and skirted around Snowdrop as if it carried the fucking plague.

But not without vowing that they would come back. They would go back to those children and give them peace. To their parents as well.

For four and a half months they took trains, boats and once a very memorable magic mobile ride that left even Lucy's face a little green until they were positive they had cornered the witch by a set of cliffs in Bosco that housed a small town. The residents believed that something wicked and evil had cursed them, for nigh on two weeks earlier…their children had started to disappear into the night without a single trace. Save for one, a small girl with haunted eyes that never seemed to go away. Eliza didn't speak, but she had pointed them in the direction she had come from and they had (after a long and pointed argument complete with flailing limbs and angry signs) retired for one night to keep their strength up.

They had fallen into an uneasy sleep. It had been the first time that Cobra had slept in a bed with another person, but Lucy had become something over these past few months, something closer than his friends had been in the Tower.

He watched her snore slightly into the pillow, cheek creased and mashed up against the fabric. He realized that she was his friend too. His best friend.

Cobra vowed to get her back home, come hell or high water. His magic didn't really matter all that much in the grand scheme of things (fuck didn't that hurt to admit), not when it was compared to the loss of life that could happen tomorrow. Not when they had a chance to get those children out of there before they became little more than a battery to a woman that needed to be wiped from the Earth.

That morning, they had left at dawn. The plan simple. Lucy would go after the witch, while Cobra found the children. Just because it was logical and good, he didn't have to like it. Because it was dumb, a dumb stupid idiotic plan that he hated.

But he trusted Lucy to do what needed to be done, so he gritted his teeth instead of snarking back at her, and followed her lead. She was the one with the magic, after all, he was a burden who taught her sign language, nothing more. But he trusted Lucy above everyone because he had realized that she was so damn good, right to her very core that she would put the children's needs and safety above both herself and him. And he was surprisingly okay with that.

They found another little shack that looked suspiciously like a carbon copy of the last hut they had found on the Sunderheim. Lucy made to go, Sagittarius Stardress on, bow in hand. Cobra grabbed her by her arm and forced her to look at him one last time.

 _Be safe, Starshine._

 _You too, Cobra. Get those kids out of there as soon as possible, I'll distract her for as long as I can._

He nodded, then turned back to her. "Call me Erik."

She smiled wide, and then she was gone.

Luckily for him, his part of the plan went off without a hitch and he found two pale shaking little girls in the basement chained to the dirty floor. He saw freshly spilled blood and drag marks on the ground and pretended they didn't exist. Cobra smashed their shackles with the heaviest thing he could find, bundled them up and moved away from the cliff towards their town. He ran as fast as he could with the added weight and made surprising time. He left them at the Inn, prepared to set off back towards Lucy to do something to help, hell he would yell and scream at the top of his lungs so that he could be the distraction if he had too.

But before he could, his forehead burned fiercely, and the poison in his veins roiled, boiling and bubbling to the surface. Thankfully something heavy and white slammed into his mind before he had a chance to lose control of his Slayer side before he poisoned the whole damn town.

He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

* * *

 **Now**

* * *

It was surprisingly easy to find the witch that had imprisoned them. Cobra had thought there would be a maze of tunnels, too many doors and spells to dampen sound and smell.

But there wasn't.

Lucy quirked an eyebrow at him when he held up his hand in the universal sign for stop.

He pointed at the plain wooden door to their left.

 _Seriously?_ She signed and rolled her eyes. _I was expecting more of a cat and mouse scenario._

Cobra wanted to laugh at her dry wit, he loved when she made light of serious situations. Kept him grounded and his mind off more troubling things, focused on his senses and on her soul.

 _Plan N?_

She clapped a hand over her mouth in a desperate attempt to muffle her giggles. _I still can't believe we named it that._

Cobra smashed the door in with his foot as quickly as possible, hopefully catching the witch off guard.

Plan N.

By far the easiest plan to ever execute. Don't think, all in, smash and pray.

Plan _Natsu_.

The witch was, ironically, or perhaps not, standing by a massive cauldron, stirring the lightly boiling liquid with an oversized spoon.

Cobra wanted to say _so many fucking things about this holy shit_ , but his best friend beat him to it.

"Gods. I didn't actually think witches did this kind of shit. Is that a fucking cauldron?" She sounded both incredulous and elated at the same time. They would laugh over this later, he had no doubt.

She veered off suddenly and snatched up her keys that layout pretty as could be on a table where anyone could see. Cobra snorted and shook his head. The witch should have known that they couldn't hold two Fairy Tail wizards for long.

Fucking amateurs.

Lucy didn't even pause in her advance and between one moment and the next, she stepped out of Ares and into Leo Star Dress while Virgo and Leo leered out of their gates and pushed the witch they were after into a corner of a room with a shriek that pierced their eardrums.

He was still happy that his hearing was back though, no matter the abuse to his senses.

Cobra let loose a Poison Dragon Roar, delighted beyond everything that his magic listened to his command again. The dense fog herded her farther and farther towards the wall, lest she step into his attack and risk death. He knew how potent the shit that came out of his mouth was.

This time, for the crap this witchy bitch had put them through he had mixed as many different kinds with as high a potency as he could and delighted in the fact the stone ceiling and floor were starting to sizzle and smoke.

"Oi. Don't bring everything down around our ears Erik."

He huffed and pulled some back inside his body as Lucy made a complicated hand signal (that had nothing to do with sign language) into the empty air and manifested two massive glowing swords from a pocket of the Spirit World. She gracefully strode forward, holding the halves of Cancer's weapon of choice easily, as if they were an extension of her arms.

The first time she had shown them to him, he had never seen more intimidating gardening tools. Coupled with the fact that she could pull bits and pieces from different Stardresses at will made Lucy all that more dangerous. And amazing.

"Did you truly think that you were a match for us?" Leo's elegant black dress billowed around her as she stalked the witch until her back hit the wall, red stilettos clicking against the ground like the heralds of war. He loved Lucy like this, filled with righteous anger, eyes glowing with fury and pride. It made a little piece of himself shiver in delight.

She was glorious. It was half of why he called her Starshine.

Lucy was blinding.

Cobra silently slunk up beside Lucy, shadowing her from behind. They worked well like this, he was better at actions, always had been. Lucy was the one with the endless words.

The witch seemed to bolster at the sight of him. She made to throw a flask filled with bright red liquid but stopped abruptly as chains wrapped tightly around her arms, immobilizing her.

"Thank you, Virgo."

"Punishment time Princess?"

Lucy shook her head with a fond smile. "Perhaps later, Virgo." She murmured, never taking her eyes off the witch. It was in her best interest not to, of course.

Cornered animals tended to lash out with everything they had, even if it hurt them in the long run.

One of Lucy's daggers shot out and was held to the witch's vulnerable neck, so close that with every breath she took the blade sliced her pale skin.

"Now, why don't we all just have a little chat, hmm?" Lucy's smile was as vicious as her swords, pointy and so very sharp. Leo looked just about ready to swoon into a puddle, but mercifully, he held off this time.

"How did you even break out of those restraints? I worked for months on those!"

The blonde smiled then with too many teeth. "Just because you subdued our magic, doesn't mean you left us helpless, little witch. I've been through tougher days than this when I was a teenager. This is nothing compared to the shit I've been dragged through. One of my brothers is END, I helped him defeat Zeref the most terrible black wizard ever known. I've seen wars, I've lost loved ones, I've seen more death than I ever wanted to. I've been beaten and tortured and abandoned. This was practically a vacation for me. Have you ever even heard of the Starbringer here in Stella?"

The witch, although angry and petulant, nodded with a quick jerky movement.

Cobra leered over Lucy's shoulder. "Well, you found her bitch."

Poisonous green eyes snapped to his. "You the hell are you? And how did you survive the poison in the cookies I gave you? Everything I've ever heard about the mage that killed my sister made no mention of you."

Lucy smiled and winked. "This is my best friend, Cobra, the Poison Dragon Slayer. Perhaps you've heard of him?"

Although he wanted to preen, Cobra set his face in the nastiest glare he could rustle up. He was getting tired of this and just wanted to go back home. This witch was nothing compared to her sister and hadn't even done them much harm.

"Starshine, I'm bored. Let's get on with this shall we?"

"Of course, Cobra. This is tawdrier than what I thought was going to happen. Even Juvia put up more fight and she was love-sick the entire time." She murmured.

The witch tried to protest a little, but with a smack to the head from the pommel of one dagger from Lucy, she was out cold.

"Well, princess, that was pretty anti-climactic. Although, you might want to sterilize our keys after that witch hand her grubby little hands on them."

There was a meaningful pause then, in a quieter voice than he's ever heard from the lion, "also, _she_ wants you to know that she's looking into some beautiful jewelry right now."

Lucy smirked her mind whirring to life immediately plotting a route to Joya. She thanked her spirits, letting them and her Stardress and daggers fade back into the spirit realm. "Please thank Cancer for me, won't you?"

With a final nod and a bow, both Leo and Virgo were gone.

"So, Starshine, what do we do with this one?" Cobra poked the unconscious witch with the tip of one of his boots, reluctant to get too close.

"Turn her over to whatever authorities out here equal the magic council. I don't think they'll have any problems keeping her contained. As long as she can't write runes, it'll be fine."

Cobra listened intently for a moment. "She doesn't possess any true magic, no spark. She's completely human. Fucking crazy, but still human."

Lucy shivered a little but cracked a smile at the sight of the cauldron again. "Bix is gunna lose it when I tell him about the potions she was cooking up."

Cobra groaned and nodded. "Let's just get out of here. I'm tired of looking at the cave walls, and you know I can't fucking stand bats."

She laughed and called up the boots from Taurus' Stardress, bodily lifting the slightly drooling woman over one shoulder. "Alright, Erik, let's go."

He sucked up the last of the poison in the air and sighed happily as it sung in his veins. "We need to get drunk."

"Whatever you say, snake-boy."

"Fucker."

"You love me."

* * *

 **Then**

* * *

"Shit. You have no idea how good it is to hear your soul again Starshine, sound for sore ears. How long was I out, what happened? Is she gone?"

"It's been three days, calm down, alright? She's gone. I promise Erik."

"How?"

A pendant he recognized easily was slipped around his neck and tucked underneath his shirts. Jewel shattered and cracked in the center.

"I did what needed to be done, nothing more, Erik."

He didn't ask about it again, accepting that answer as gospel.

The next morning, they left that town in Bosco, traveled slowly on foot back to Snowdrop for over two months, detouring once or twice to gather more money.

At sundown in the middle of a week, they reburied fourteen small bodies in their own graves, marking their headstones out as the townspeople watched on silently from a distance.

Lucy didn't speak again for two days.

They took the express train back into Fiore, and Lucy didn't even have to ask where he would head next. Both knew where one would go, the other would follow.

Six days later, to a nearly empty guild at daybreak, in front of Mira and the Master, a wine-drunk Cana, and a snoring Elfman, he was invited to be in Fairy Tail.

All Lucy did was smirk and bump his shoulder, their easy comradery, and bond startling both barmaid and guild master.

"What took you so long child?"

"Just waiting for the right time old man."

His stamp landed perfectly on the side of his neck, acidic purple and as bold as his personality.

* * *

 **Now**

* * *

"Show me, Lucy."

The use of her given name startled the blonde so severely that she stopped in her tracks in the middle of the road back to the train station. "Are you sure you want to see it Cobra?"

He held his knee-jerk asshole comments and quips behind his teeth and actually thought about what she was asking.

"Yes."

"Well, I did promise."

And without a second to center himself, he was sucked into the middle of her soul.

 _"Foolish child. Why would you ever come after me? I know you're out in the trees somewhere."_

 _Lucy stepped out from behind a large willow that was hiding her from sight, bow held high, arrow notched and waiting. "You took something precious from the man I love."_

 _The witch cackled high and long. "And you thought you would kill me to get it back? And who did I wrong so completely little girl?"_

 _Sparkles burst beside her into three gates filled with furious spirits. "The Starbringer, you hag." She fired the arrow at the witch's head, grunting in disappointment when her target vanished._

 _"Leo, Capricorn. You know what to do."_

 _The fight was overwhelming, the witch able to disappear and reappear seemingly at will. Capricorn was sent back after a devastating blow to his legs made him crumble to the ground. Lucy whispered to her last forgotten spirit as another one of her light arrows failed to hit its mark. "Virgo, I believe it's time to get a bit dirty, don't you?"_

 _"Right away, Princess."_

 _Virgo was below the earth for so long, that the witch forgot about her. After Lucy had been hit in the chest with a whip made of flames conjured from thin air, Virgo burst from the rocks below and locked her in place._

 _Lucy pulled the string back another time on her bow. She would not miss this time—_

 _"You never answered my question Starbringer. Why would you go after a witch of the Willard family like this?"_

 _"You stole his magic from him and used it to power your own. You used innocence as a battery, you've killed children. You disgust me. Do I need another reason?"_

 _The witch's face twisted into a mask of grotesque fury as she unconsciously palmed her scars on her neck. "That little snake? He deserved all he got."_

 _"Give it back you bitch." Lucy's voice was low and steady, filled with ice and splintering iron. "Surrender, I have you tra—"_

 _Rocks crumbled as the witch forced her way out of the prison that Virgo had created. Lucy swore and loosed the arrow, prayed that it would fly true. Prayed that it would strike the monster in front of her through the heart._

 _But—_

 _At the last minute, the woman turned and the arrow stuck fast into the pendant hanging heavy around her neck._

 _Time slowed down and crept until she was sure it was flowing backward._

 _Then, just as Lucy pulled back to create another arrow from her magic, the witch let out a fearsome shriek, pain-filled and wretched. The veins of her body turned black, while skin peeled, eyes bled and hair shriveled._

 _The witch was dead, nails and lips and ears flaking away into black dust._

 _Lucy pulled the pendant from the twisted, blackened husk eyeing the body before her with a wary sort of confusion. "What the hell just happened?"_

 _Leo only shrugged before he and Virgo collapsed their gates with a parting kiss blown goodbye and a puzzled expression._

 _Pocketing the jewelry, she turned and retraced her earlier steps towards the place where she knew the children were, in Erik didn't run into any problems._

 _She didn't spare a glance back._

He heaved and shook before his senses came back. Two hands grabbed his face and he _almost_ flinched away.

Almost, but not quite.

"I researched for two days while you were unconscious but couldn't figure out what the hell happened to that witch. My magic is pure, light, it burns from the outside in. She looked like she was disintegrating, her veins went black as pitch and she started to turn into dust. It wasn't until I remembered what you had told me about the day you fought her."

While his vision cleared up some, he could only see those bright amber eyes. Cobra felt a kind of strange déjà vu, but it was fine. He was fine. Lucy was _here_ with _him_.

It was fine.

"Poison—" he rasped out quickly, then cleared his throat. "—it was poison."

Lucy nodded and sighed. "I know. That necklace that she wore had kept her immune from all poisons, including the ones you pumped into her body when you bit her. Either she didn't know, didn't care, or assumed in her arrogance that she would live forever."

"What? Live forever?"

Then it clicked.

"The children? She was…"

Lucy's eyes filled with a pain filled sadness he hated. "Yes. I looked into it after, researched the tools she was using and asked Levy and Freed. They confirmed my suspicion. That Witch was using those innocent—gods, those innocent, pure children as sacrifices in some fucked up ritual for immortality. The boosts to her power were just a nice aftereffect. As far as I could tell, the witch that you melted a year ago was close to five hundred years old."

"Then how did she have a sister that didn't really know how to use magic? It makes no fucking sense!"

"My best guess is not a true sister, more like a prodigy, or a student. Did you notice the plants hanging above the hearth in that room she was in, above the cauldron?"

"…I was more focused on the fact that there even was a damn cauldron in there honestly."

"Yeah." She smiled tightly. "Poison Ivy, Hemlock, Wolfsbane, Nightshade, Oleander…"

"All poisonous. Every single one."

"I know. She had fucking Foxglove strung up beside a bunch of Moonseed."

Cobra wheeled around and started marching back towards the cave, Lucy hot on his heels. "Fuck, do you know how rare Moonseed is? That shit doesn't grow anywh—"

"Anywhere except the deserts of Desertio? Yeah, I know. I grabbed a bunch of it while you were poking an unconscious witch with your toe. Along with a couple of Bleeding Hearts."

He all but ripped the flower away from Lucy, smelling it delicately before stuffing it in his mouth like the glutton he was. He moaned loudly, fresh poison coursing through his veins. "Jesus fuck that shit is good." It certainly paid off for him that Lucy was so observant.

Lucy giggled and hauled him by the arm so that they were back on track towards their destination. She left him quietly in his contemplation, humming contentedly when his body broke down more of the toxins in his bloodstream.

"So, she's dead. Her _sister_ is in prison…everything is fine?"

"Are you asking me? Or saying that?"

"I don't fucking know Starshine."

It was silent for a moment, so they kept on walking towards the train station while Cobra soaked up everything he could, souls, sounds, _Lucy_. "Yeah, Erik. Everything's fine."

"You know I do too. Right?"

And because Lucy knew him, and he knew her, trusted her beyond everything, she didn't even for a moment ask what he meant. "I know, in your own fucked up kind of way." He nodded and smirked, slipping his pinky around hers as they walked.

It was quiet again before they were standing in front of the board for all the connecting trains and the times they would leave.

"So…you caught that hint the lion gave you right?"

"Oh please. It was too easy. They should know by now that I'll eventually figure everything out."

"Smartass."

She laughed and smiled, that way she did when she was caught off-guard. "You up for a trip to Joya?"

"What do you think idiot?"

"Oh, fuck you snake-boy."

"You love me."

"No, I'm pretty sure I hate you."

"Lies."


	3. Water

All Rights to Hiro Mashima

Here's a little fairy tale Fairy Tail style. :3

* * *

 **Boomslang**

 _Day 2: Water_

* * *

Once upon a time, there was a star.

She was Earthbound and tiny, beloved by all and brighter than the sun. She was born on the longest day of the year, when the veil between the realms flutters and bends, letting them touch in places that had no business touching at all. But they did, and the world was more resplendent for it.

On that auspicious eve, this living star, the youngest daughter of the King and Queen of Astralis was brought into this world on the back of a summer wind filled with magic.

She was blessed under the glowing constellations with fair beauty and hair that shone like spun gold as if the stars themselves had been plucked from the sky and woven together. She was named Lucia, Lucy to those who knew her well, the little light of all their lives.

The people of that mighty Kingdom loved her, as they loved all the King and Queen's children before. The first, Mira Jane who was known for her resilience and otherworldly poise, Crown Princess who took to her role like a fish to water. The second, Erza, who grew to be the youngest and most beloved General of the Kingdom's army anyone had ever seen. The third, Juvia, the romantic, known for her love of the sea and was deemed to be the greatest poet of their generation. The fourth, Levy, a genius and Head Scribe and the youngest graduate of the Kingdom's University.

They loved their youngest sister fiercely, beyond all things. Protected her from the evil of the world and made sure she lived happily and without fear.

She grew up surrounded by love, watched her sisters as they went through the rights of passage, through the Choosing and then, with shining eyes, watched one by one as men and women from all over the known world compete to win the hand of the Princesses.

There was a grand fair, an entire week long that filled the streets of their fair city with flowers and the smell of sumptuous foods. Lucy was held captive by the challenges, and by the challengers. The King created a seemingly impossible task and the first to complete it was worthy to be presented in front of the Princess and from there, the Princess would either deem them a fit match or decline the offer.

Mira was the first to complete the Choosing. The challenge was difficult and many lamented that there wouldn't be a soul in Earthland that could light one hundred lanterns without touching a single one. But then, on the seventh day, a hulking mass of a man who had been blessed with the spark of Lightning lit every lantern at the same moment with only a snap of his fingers. Mira was smitten with Lord Laxus Dreyer and they were wedded the next day. Laxus doted on Lucy like no other save Mira, and Lucy loved her new big brother back with her whole heart.

Erza was the second to complete the Choosing. The challenge sent forth by the King was to beat Erza in single handed combat. Many competed and many lost, not one lasting more than a few minutes up against Titania. None, until Erza's own second in command, Sir Jellal Fernandez, stepped forward. The two had been inseparable since childhood, sparring and fighting easily with each other for years. Their clash ended in a draw which displeased the King, but Erza was happy and declared him more than worthy to have her hand. A dispute between a band of poachers who roamed through the forest that connected the Kingdom of Nix to Astralis and the army pushed back their wedding for a few months, but in the end, it was worth it. Jellal gifted Lucy with a bow and taught her how to use it behind an old out building in the grounds. From that moment on, she trained with her sister to be a warrior in her own right.

Juvia, refused for three entire years to go through with the Choosing, stating that she knew the love of her life wasn't ready yet. On her twenty-first birthday, she absconded with the Crown Prince of Nix, Gray Fullbuster and were married on the edge of the sea at dawn in a small ceremony. The King was horrified by this turn of events and disowned her completely. Juvia was fine with this as the very next year after the King and Queen of Nix passed on due to an unprecedented ogre attack, she began her rule as Nix's new Queen with her beloved Gray by their side. Once a month Lucy would make it a priority to ride through the woods to visit with her sister at the castle by the sea. Gray is kind, but stubborn where Juvia is wishful and flexible. They balance each other out. True love is what some called it. Soulmates, others whisper.

Between the scandal of Juvia's elopement and the impending ceremony of Levy's Choosing, Lucia found where she fit into the world. With hard work and dedication, she became the High Priestess of the Zodiac, holder of the twelve Golden Keys, ancient relics of unimaginable power. Lucy glowed from within and relished the responsibility of being a keeper of these keys, a Star Child in her own right.

As Levy's Choosing commenced in the middle of the autumn, Lucy watched the sister she was closest to drag her eyes away from her beloved books and fall instantly in love with a wild haired man whose eyes glowed like the coals he used to heat metal for his craft. While this man, Gajeel the Blacksmith, was only an iron worker, he won the impossible task of winning a race against the royal family's fastest horse, the likes that weren't seen anywhere else in Earthland. He used a contraption of his own creation, one born from iron and steel that was powered from within to gain his victory. Levy was instantly enthralled, infinitely curious and asked for his hand in marriage without a second thought. They were wed on the longest night of the year. Gajeel delighted in the fact that the King did not really approve of his station and to spite him practiced his craft daily creating trinkets and things to fascinate his wife while producing swords that impressed even Erza and arrows so sharp for Lucy's bow that they could embed themselves deep within the tree trunks she practiced on. Lucy enjoyed his gruff manner and the fact that he always spoke his mind.

Lucy's four sisters along with their four chosen husbands became a very tight knit family, even with Juvia so far away. They went on adventures all over the Kingdom and beyond, traveling on horseback, flying through the woods and over the Red Plains. Took picnics beneath the Tenrou tree and talked weapons with Erza. Spent days searching remote islands for the fabled Grand Library so that Levy could gain more knowledge. Shopping in the glittering cities of Joya for rings made of amber and aquamarine. Spent a week playing in the sea with Juvia and her husband, next to white cliffs made of limestone.

She loved her life, full of fun and in between trips she spent the rest of her time training and taking her duties as High Priestess as seriously as possible.

Once, they all took a ship to Desertio after Lucy learned of a blessed pool that was said to grant the pure of heart long life and happiness to couples who swam at midnight. They all bathed naked in the moonlight content beyond all things that they were safe. No one was safer perhaps, seeing as each person, man and woman alike, were equally as deadly when they needed to be.

Lucy sat in the tallest tree to give her sisters and their husbands some time alone and swim without the need to be completely on guard. She sat all night with her bow notched, arrows ready to fly at the first hint of trouble.

It was just after the deepest part of the night where the stars were the brightest that Lucia heard a rustling in the bushes not far from where she sat silent and still.

The disturbance was too large to be a mere rabbit and too loud to be a deer.

She quietly leaped down from her perch among the leaves, putting herself between the sleeping figures of her family and the unknown enemy. It could be a wayward bear, or another couple intent on bathing, or bandits that came seeking an easy fortune.

Lucia strung her bow and notched an arrow as silently as possible. She wouldn't let whatever was coming come any closer to her sisters. They deserved the peaceful sleep that they were having.

"Come out. I know you're in there. Stand before me."

She expected the cloak, but she didn't expect only one man.

And she _definitely_ didn't expect for him to be smirking. "And what are you doing out in the moonlight so late at night?"

Lucia caught a glimpse of the man's face in the dying light of their campfire. He was handsome, skin dark and smooth, but a massive scar marred his face on one side, his eye closed permanently. She didn't lower her bow but stood taller. She knew better than anyone save Erza perhaps, to never underestimate anyone.

"Why are you here? This pond can only be used by lovers and I don't see anyone by your side."

The man cocked his head and before her eyes, a massive violet snake wound around his shoulders and watched her with an intelligence that went beyond a lowly beast. The two before her seemed to have a conversation if the eyebrow tilts and hisses were any indication.

"You're right. I don't have a lover by my side. But I didn't come to bathe in the water here." He produced a vial in his right hand and the crouched slowly down to the edge where the tiny waves lapped gently at the pebbled bank.

Her hands drop marginally from their taught position. "You came to collect some?"

"Indeed. It's potent, this water. Combined with other herbs and plants from the forest it can speed healing and promote good health."

"Fascinating." She breathed.

The man shot a look at the snake again then rolled his eye. "I've been reminded that I'm being rude. My name is Cobra. And this is Cubellios."

Lucy let her arrow drop. She didn't think she would need it tonight. Not against Cobra at least. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance Cobra. My name is Princess Lucia of Astralis, and these—" She gestured behind her to her family. "—are my sisters and their husbands."

Cobra's eye flashed quickly to the simple golden circlet woven through her hair, then to the keys strung through the belt of her tunic. Lucy was startled when she noticed that he had taken his hood down and she couldn't remember when. One of his ears was pierced and the delicate gold hoop suited him well.

"High Priestess." He whispered.

And before she could answer back, he had bowed before her. "Forgive me, I didn't realize—"

With pink cheeks and a flustered hand, Lucia waved off his apologies. "Oh. Uhm. It's nothing. Really. You can stand. And you may call me Lucy. Uh, if you'd like."

He smiled at her then and her heart skipped a beat. It was thrilling, this interaction with this stranger. He was intriguing in all the right ways. "If you don't mind. If I call you Lucy, would you call me Erik then?"

"Of course, Erik." She liked the way that name sounded. Strong and resilient, just like the man before her.

They sat for hours whispering quietly back and forth about their lives. He owned an apothecary and the reason he had lost his eye (an attempt on his life as a child of all things) and she spoke of the Choosing and the search for her other half. Of her adventures with her sisters and how she became High Priestess. He told her of his craft and pointed out plants and flora around her, told her which were edible and which were poisonous. He left for a few minutes and came back with an array of flowers, giving each a name and threading the one called Daphne through her curls.

"It is very beautiful Erik, thank you."

"It's also extremely deadly. It reminds me of you."

Lucia blushed again and smiled wide.

Cubellios took to her well and by the end of the time they had together, the snake's head was resting gently in Lucia's lap while the Princess marveled at the texture of her scales. She learned that he could hear her in his mind.

"My sisters will awake soon."

"Then I should probably be gone by that time."

"I was wonderful to meet you, Erik. I won't forget it."

"Neither will I, Lucy."

And then he was gone, and Lucia realized that she felt bereft, as if something she didn't know she possessed had been taken from her.

But she shook it off as the dawn broke. She has her sisters, and her brothers now. In the coming months, she will undergo the Choosing and from then on, she would no longer be alone in that way, she would be one half of a pair. Just like she was meant to, ever since she was born.

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

Two weeks before her Choosing, the unthinkable occurs. A horde of Demons attack, beholden to none other than Abaddon himself, Prince of Pain. He hadn't been seen in Earthland for nigh on a millennium. But it seemed that he had come to collect his dues of misery and corpses. Everyone suits up for the oncoming clash, even the princesses against the wishes of their father and mother. But none of them would go through a war sitting on thrones and watching as their citizens fought and died for them without coming to their aid, without fighting right next to them.

Alliances are called on and the many Kingdoms come together in solidarity to fight this evil army. Juvia clad in shining silver armour flows through her enemies like water, slicing through the throng with a magical whip. Gray always close by her side brought swords made of everlasting ice taken from the summit of Mount Hakobe. Erza lead the combined army of Nix and Astralis with Jellal fighting at her back. Lord Makarov, Grandfather to Laxus and beloved ruler of Domus was called upon and answered their plea for assistance. He brought his own army that was led by a Demon-dragon named Natsu and his nest. Sting, Rogue, and Wendy were blessings on the battlefield and they turned the tides easily wherever they fought. Levy worked with Gajeel to direct and create plans while the blacksmith brought weapons into existence as if by magic.

Laxus and Mira take leading in stride, coordinating the armies together and leading Domus to easy victories.

For two weeks they fought without the help of Lucia, as she was still only in her seventeenth year and her father had locked her in her room. She went mad with worry, begging servants for any news of her loved ones, and was relieved to find that had all survived so far. Livid as she was at her father and mother for keeping her away, from keeping the High Priestess of the Zodiac locked up in a tower she sat quietly and stewed in her anger until she was summoned on her eighteenth birthday.

She donned pale gold armour, commissioned by Erza and created by Gajeel so that she would be ready to head out at a moment's notice. Her hair was a shining braid down her back and her eyes hard and cold. She would not forgive her father for keeping her here, even if she knew that she could handle herself in battle, the King had refused to acknowledge her prowess seeing her only for the bright little star she once was. But she had grown, she was no longer just Lucia, youngest princess of Astralis, she was High Priestess of the Zodiac and she would march into the fray with her bow. Luckily, her mother hadn't shoved her head so far in the sand and had given her a short dagger to keep in her boot when she was twelve.

The King was horrified and angry by what he saw. His youngest daughter looked like she had been ready to fight, ready to march off and die when all he wanted was for her to become complacent and happy staying in the castle. All he wanted from his daughters was grandchildren and the continuation of his line. Instead, he got defiant women who became scholars and warriors who delighted in exploring the world instead of sitting still.

But he couldn't stop her, not this version of Lucia that was headstrong and willful. She would find a way to escape her room or the dungeons and it wasn't worth it in the end. It was in Lucia's nature to help and give until she gave everything she could to the Kingdom she was born into. She was their light, and she would help cleanse the shadows from it that Abaddon brought.

"Go." He said, defeated and small in his throne. "Go and come back having slain this mighty beast. Then we will celebrate your birthday and go through your Choosing."

The Queen was silent, as she so often was.

"I will father," Lucia answered. And then she was gone.

She arrived at the camp her sisters had made in the dead of night. They rejoiced her presence with a midnight feast of wild boar and grainy bread and Lucia felt more at ease than she had in ages. She was with her family again. Natsu and she became fast friends, closer than anyone else had ever come before and she revered Makarov and looked up to him as a father figure she wished her own father was, kindly and warm instead of iron cold and stoic. Lucia had grown up with love in her heart and love from her sisters, but she had wished her own parents had shown it more in hugs and smiles and laughter.

A small package arrived as she was heading to her tent one evening after dinner, and when she opened it there was a tiny vial that held a mixture that shimmered like a pearl a small letter than only told her to drink the potion for good health, and fast healing. There was no signature, only a drawing of a flower that she recognized instantly.

Daphne.

Lucia popped the vial open and smelled the mixture against her better judgment. Mira would slap her sideways if she had seen it, and she didn't know why, but she knew she could trust Erik. Especially with this.

The potion smelled of mint.

Five days and six nights later, it came to a head. Evil and destruction rolled through, enough to gag everyone with cloying scents of death and blood. So, Lucia took the front with her family at her back, downed the potion from Erik without hesitation, then marched forward. Lucia called for assistance from her beloved stars in the sky, the Zodiac, for the tools to purify this blight from the world.

Her answer came in the form of shimmering beings, spirits from a world that manifested as corporeal versions of their constellations. Leo appeared first, their leader a magnificent white lion that shone with all the light of the stars. Scorpio, a massive scorpion plated with diamonds and precious metals. Taurus, a solid golden bull with rubies for eyes. Libra, a blind seer who judged those by the weight of their souls. They were all beautiful and entirely loyal to Lucia who loved and cared for these stars since she was a little girl. The keys on Lucy's hip became gates, pathways to call forth these corporeal forms from the ether.

So, Lucy notched her bow with some of Gajeel's deadliest arrows, called out Leo to her side and stood tall. "It is time," she said. "To bring an end to this blight on our Kingdom."

And so, they fought long, and they fought hard. Darting and blinding and swirling with all the light in the sky. Natsu let go of END and consumed the lesser demons with all the enthusiasm of a child confronted with honey cakes. His nest changed forms and breathed light and darkness, made tornados that shredded and rent anew, flesh from bone, muscle from tissue. Erza blazed a path, dual swords glinting. Mira slunk through the shadows, eyes flashing without mercy. Levy planned and Juvia danced through the ichor. Gajeel's machines skittered around the rest, cogs and iron working, bringing the enemies to their knees through sheer numbers.

Lucia watched fascinated as a cut on her hand slowly healed right before her very eyes. She would have to find a gift for Erik after all this was over.

And all through that Lucy hunted. She picked off the demon spawn one by one, let Leo tear her a path through the darkness, where she met Abaddon.

Leo roared for strength from Regulus and Lucy called as many spirits out as she could.

They stood in that clearing on a razor's edge for a moment, silent and still.

"Little light." The demon whispered and became poison in her ears.

Lucia's grin was fleeting and vicious, here one moment, gone the next. "Demon Lord Abaddon."

Then they attacked, arrows flying, claws shredding. Until there was nothing left of Abaddon but a slip of shadow and a violent smile. His darkness could never drown out Lucia's light.

In a fit of defiance, the demon left his mark on Lucy. He blinded her with the last of his despicable magic. Her once amber eyes turned milky white and she could see only darkness.

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

Later that very same night, Wendy tried her hand at healing but it was no use. Not even the elixir that she had drunk before the fight could heal something as malicious as an anathema from a dying Demon. Even END could give no recourse, no suggestions.

"I am sorry my lady. With curses such as these, there is no cure, no potion I can give you."

Lucy still smiled as bright as the sun. She had no regrets, no shame. "I do not begrudge you, little bird. It is what it is. Abaddon can no longer harm my people or my family, the sacrifice of my eyes is small compared to what could have been lost."

Her thoughts strayed for a moment to Erik, to his eye that had been taken from him at such an early age. What would he say if he saw her like this? Would he be proud of her? Disdainful? She shook her head of those thoughts. If she knew Erik even a little bit, he would be unbothered by it, and so should she. It would take time to get used to, of course, but she was far from helpless.

"I admire you Princess, but there are whispers of a magic beyond what mine is capable of. The One Magic, the first magic. It may still heal your eyes."

"And what is One magic, Wendy?"

"No one knows Lucy. But if you found someone who possessed it…"

"I understand." And Lucia did understand.

Before they left camp, Lucy asked for a dagger and a flag from Abaddon's army. Jellal produced both easily and the family watched as their Lucia ripped the flag in half and folded it in on itself. She deftly tied it about her eyes. "This will remind us what we have lost, but also what we have gained by the destruction of our enemies. We will never forget, but we will move on."

The armies parted ways at the crossroads. Juvia and Gray leaving for Nix and their fortress by the blue ocean. Makarov and Natsu with the rest of his nest back to Domus, with a promise to keep in touch. Lucy knew that she would hear from Natsu before long. Their connection was instant and bond strong as best friends were ought to be. Astralis, the Princesses, and their families marched on.

It took a week on foot and during that time Lucia learned to navigate without the use of her eyes. She panicked only once when she realized that she would no longer be able to fight or use her bow, the targets all but lost on her now.

Laxus created a walking staff for her from a blackened tree along their path. Gajeel tipped it in iron so that she still had a weapon to wield it if need be.

On the night before they arrived home, Leo came through his gate.

"Have you come to relieve me of my title Leo?"

"Never Lucia. You have done the world a great service, and we would be honored to stay with you. The title of High Priestess is yours and yours alone."

Lucy buried her hands in his glowing mane and wept for joy, startled at the fact that she could still shed tears. She was happy and humbled by her Celestial friends. "Why have you come, Leo? Is something wrong?"

"No. I just thought you might like some company, dear one."

"Thank you," Lucy whispered. Then—

"Leo, may I ask you a question you might not be able to answer?"

"Anything for you."

She laughed, bright as bells. "Have you ever heard of the One magic?"

The lion rumbled deep in his chest and Lucia found herself feeling safe. "Yes. It is old. Even older than I am and I am older than everything."

"What is this magic, Leo?"

"I don't truly know. But I can guess."

"Please. It might help bring my sight back."

"Love, dearest Lucia. The answer is True Love. Untainted and pure."

Lucy smiled and sighed into soft fur. "I think I understand. Thank you, Leo."

The lion nudged her until she was lying down, then curled around her to keep her warm and content through the night. "Sleep, I will keep watch."

It was then that Lucia knew that her Choosing was more important than ever. She could feel it in her bones.

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

They were welcomed back as heroes, the citizens lined the streets that they paraded down. The army broke off early for the barracks, but the Princesses and their husbands made their way through the middle of the grand city of Stars. Almost as an afterthought, came Lucy, hand hidden deep within the glowing white mane of Leo.

She held her head high and walked quietly. If the people of her Kingdom were confused about why she kept her eyes covered, they didn't show it and cheered as loud as they did for all the others. This gave Lucia hope.

The procession stopped where the King spoke of victory and battles won. He declared the next week a holiday and on the last day would be his youngest daughters Choosing. He beckoned Lucia up to stand before him as the crowd cheered harder at the promise of merriment and a grand fair.

"Princess Lucia…why have you covered your eyes?"

Lucia unwound the enemy flag that bound her blindness. "Because I have lost my sight, your Highness."

"— _Oh Lucia_."

"I am sorry father."

"You are alive, that is all that we could hope for. You fought and you lived. Be proud, Lucia. In the light of what you have given for this city, I dub you High Priestess Nova of the Zodiac. Do you swear to uphold the Stars?"

"I do."

"Then, Nova. I believe there is much to prepare for."

Lucy threw back her head and laughed with delight. "Thank you, father. I cannot wait to feel a love like my sisters have found."

"And you will my daughter. I promise."

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

In a little-known town just north of the border of Nix and Astralis, a man swept into a small apothecary with a smile that held more teeth than should be possible. The man with one eye knew something was wrong the minute he was asked to make this poisonous potion, almost no one knew about the Hallowed Death.

And no one used it to kill rodents.

"What did you say you needed this mixture for?" Cobra was skeptical of his shifty customer who kept half his face hidden in the shadows of a hood.

"Oh, just to get rid of a nasty rat problem I have. Odorless and tasteless, yes? I don't want to spook— _them_ of course."

"Yeah. I made it to your specifications, just as you asked. I haven't mixed a tincture this deadly for years. It must be one helluva rat problem."

"Mmm. Yes. Quite right. My master _hates_ rats, and these ones are very tenacious."

"Uh huh. That will be six hundred and fifty jewels."

"You can't actually be serious."

He smiled wide, a little slice of white in the darkness. "You better believe it. Take it or leave it."

A clinking bag of gold seemed to materialize out of thin air. "That should be enough. Thank you for your… _help_ in this trying time." The man simpered then glided out the door.

The shadows seemed to cling to him.

Cobra swiveled in his chair and debated with himself for a moment before he addressed his best friend who was coiled under the desk. "What do you think Cu? Shifty bastard eh?"

 _Distrustful. Dishonest. Smelled wrong, death, dark, black._

He eyed the door of his small shop. "What do you reckon then? We should probably follow him just to make sure he doesn't kill the wrong thing with that poison, right?"

She didn't give an answer but slithered up his body and wound herself about his neck like a scaly scarf. "You're right. Let's go Cu. Something _that_ deadly in that sneaky prick's hands doesn't sit right with me."

He grabbed his cloak and locked up tight before letting Cubellios loose to follow the scent of wrongness and death into the night. Cobra followed the mysterious man, shifting from shadow to shadow before he stopped outside the garrison of the small towns even smaller army.

He watched as the cloaked figure handed over the tiny bottle of Hallowed Death to a beaming man with auburn hair and shining silver armour. Cobra sent Cubellios forward to listen in on the exchange.

When the door was closed again and the shifty man had disappeared in a swirl of smoke that smelled of brimstone, Cubellios slithered back.

 _Bad, wrong, assassin._

"Of who?"

 _Princess, gold, stars, twelve. Deathdeathdeath._

"Alright, I think I understand. There's only one Princess in the whole of Earthland who deals with the Stars." He whispered to his friend. "Come on Cu, I think it's time we took a little trip to Astralis, don't you? Lucy's probably in trouble and doesn't even realize it."

 _Yesssssss._

Cobra snorted and made his way back to his shop to pack and saddled his sleepy horse Midnight for the long journey. "Rats my ass."

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

The grand fair was wonderful and it filled the streets of the city with delicate scents of flowers and freshly baked bread. Lucia wandered from stall to stall, smiling and laughing along with the children and the citizens of the Kingdom.

She could feel their stares at her bound eyes, but instead of shying away, she let them all look their fill. Lucia knew they were only curious and sad, not wary or disgusted. Leo padded along beside her, glittering in the noon day heat. She could hear the exclamations of delight from her family and those who were invited to be with her on this auspicious day. Natsu had only left her side when they had crossed paths with a booth owned and operated by a young woman named Lisanna. She had stifled a sigh when she realized that her best friend had stopped to drool over the different hot chilies on display. Makarov and Natsu's nest had come along as well, happy to join in the festivities. Queen Juvia and King Gray were formally invited at the behest of Lucy, for she wanted her entire family to be with her, not just those who still lived in Astralis' castle year-round.

She had wanted to send a letter asking Erik and Cubellios to come as well, but when she had sat down next to Levy to dictate to her sister, she realized that she had no idea where he lived. That thought had roiled around in her mind for days, internally she chastised herself for being so forgetful of something so important. But there was nothing to do about it now.

Before she knew it, it was the day of the Choosing.

The King stood before the gathered crowds and announced that the challenge set down before the challengers would compete in Pandemonium. "You must defeat one hundred of my most skilled knights, if cannot get up again before the last of them fall, then you will be disqualified. Good luck."

Lucy sat on a throne beside her parents with Leo at her feet and for the second time lamented the loss of her sight. She would have liked to see the fight and cheer for the brave men and women who had come out to try and beat this impossible task.

Knights fell left and right, but all the challengers either grew too tired or too reckless. None made it very far.

None until a peculiar knight that had traveled from another town to fight for the Princess' hand in marriage as he felt that it was _love at first sight, my sweet turtle dove_. Lucia's heart beat harder in her chest as if it could escape the cage of her ribs, whether from exhilaration or contempt at the nickname she couldn't say.

Could this be it? Could this man be her true love? Could he have the One magic? Could he heal her eyes?

She hoped so.

So, Lucia sat and listened to the crowd's gasps and the commentary made by her father and critiques by Erza and Mira in the row below.

"Did you see that?!"

"His armour?"

"No! His shield, and his lance."

"Magical?"

"Most definitely."

Before long the bell was wrung that signaled the end of Pandemonium. The knight with the shinning shield had won. Laxus had leaned close and described the man who would be offered to her and whether or not she accepted would be up to her. Her brother sounded haughty and annoyed when he informed her that his hair colour was a strange mix of bright red and subtly brown, but Lucy loved that her family would do just about anything for her so she let him be without a scolding.

Then she heard his name for the first time.

Sir Daniel Straight.

Hopefully, he was the man who would love her and she, in turn, would love him so incredibly much that their true love would be seen as One and help to heal her.

Sir Daniel was brought before the King and the courtiers who all bowed down to listen to his speech from the throne room. With his blessing and congratulations, the knight was then presented to Lucia who stood proudly beside Leo and reached out her hands with a beatific smile. "It is such a pleasure to meet you, Dan."

"Oh, no, the pleasure is all mine darling dear. I have been waiting for this moment my entire life. It was as if the stars knew that we would be destined to be together forever."

He gripped her hands in his large palms and Lucy waited for that feeling of love to sweep over her entire body until she was adrift in a sea of happiness. Just as her sisters had told her would happen.

But all she could feel was an aching _wrongness_.

The man who stood before her was not the man who was destined to be by her side through thick and thin.

Lucia pulled away from Daniel, her unseeing gaze trying to find her family. Recognizing Natsu's inherent warmth at her back she shook her head. "I am truly sorry Dan, but this was not meant to be."

Her father's voice filtered through the shocked gasps from the crowd. "You are quite sure, Lucia?"

"I am."

Without another word, the King stated that Pandemonium would be restarted tomorrow at midday, but now was time for a feast and relaxation. He invited Sir Daniel to sit at the table with the royals as a sign that while he was not meant for his youngest daughter, he still completed a remarkable feat. The knight agreed, albeit with a small whine in his voice, but Lucia didn't think anything of it until later that same evening.

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

"Princess. Might I ask for this dance?" Daniel breathed in her ear. It irked her for some reason, and also slightly charmed her. Even if he was a touch brattish, the man did have impeccable manners.

"I will have to decline since I lost my sight dancing doesn't come naturally anymore. Although I still enjoy listening to the music."

"Forgive me, My Lady. I didn't think. Could I bring you a drink then while you take pleasure in your surroundings? Champagne? Wine?"

Although she wasn't truly thirsty, Lucia was brought up with manners of her own, and a glass of something would be nice. "Just water, Daniel. Thank you."

Just as the goblet had been placed in her hand, chaos erupted around them. The cup was thrown across the room and Sir Daniel was removed from her side with an ungainly yelp of surprise.

"Did you drink it? Tell me you didn't drink it! Hold him Cu, don't let him get away."

It took only a moment for Lucia to realize that it was Erik that was gripping her arms tightly, she could recognize his voice. "Lucy, did you drink—"

"No. I didn't touch it. What—Erik, what on Earthland is going on? What are you and Cubellios doing here?"

A moment later they were surrounded by her family, her friends and an entire platoon of knights led my Erza herself. There were many weapons pointed at them, most at Erik, but some of the men were smart and eyed the giant snake that had wrapped itself around Sir Daniel with a certain wariness that would be humorous at any other time.

"Unhand my daughter at once. Guards, seize him. Take him to the dungeon."

"What! I was only—"

"Father, don't you think we should—"

"—don't move bastard, or I'll roast you alive!"

It was at Mira's bellow of enough that halted everyone in the room.

"Now that we're all quiet. Young man, why don't you explain why you accosted Princess Lucia here."

Erik spoke of his work and about his most recent client, about the potion, about the Hallowed Death. Following the shifty bastard to where he came upon Sir Daniel and then tried to beat him here before he could compete in the Choosing. If it wasn't for the mudslide just outside of the capital city, he would have.

When asked for proof, he pointed to where the goblet dropped and all but Lucia could see where the liquid inside had started to eat through a hanging tapestry.

Erik shot a glance at Cubellios and the snake tightened her hold on Sir Daniel. "Speak. Tell us why you tried to assassinate Lucy."

"Assass—no! He told me it was a love potion! Guaranteed to work on my lovely shining star here. Lucia and I are in love, can't you all see it! I just wanted us to be together forever!"

The King took one look at the way Lucia cringed away at the words and simultaneously leaned into this mysterious stranger's hold. It was obvious to anyone with eyes that she trusted this…Erik. As well as the large reptile that was slowly winding its way from around the guilty knight on the floor to slither up Lucia's side.

Everyone but Erik was more than surprised when the purple snake nuzzled the side of Lucia's face and were even more flabbergasted when she giggled.

Natsu decided that it was time for them to leave, even if he was still a touch naïve, he knew when Lucia didn't need him for back up. The banquet was calling his name, and it didn't help that Lisanna was waving at him from beside a haunch of spiced deer meat. His nest followed him, and before they knew it, only the King remained after directing his guards to take Sir Daniel down to the dungeons and leave him there for a long while to stew in his idiocy.

"Lucia," His voice was stern, but his eyes held warmth. "Who is this man?"

Then Lucy smiled, warm and bright just like used to before her eyes were taken from her. "This is Erik father, but he goes by Cobra. He owns an apothecary and Cubellios here is his best friend. I met him months ago in the middle of the night while I watched over my sisters so they could get rest." Then her voice dimmed slightly, "He sent me a potion that probably saved my life several times over when we went to war against Abaddon."

The King had heard all he needed to hear in her voice and in her words. He nodded and without another thought walked back into the revelry to join his wife at the party. He had a feeling that they would need to plan a wedding soon.

"Thank you for saving me, Erik. It seems that I will never be able to repay you."

Hands swept over her face and the cloth that had hidden her eyes from the world was removed. "I will always come, you know that."

And even though Lucy had only met this man once before, she knew that he was telling the truth.

"Lucy," he whispered quietly. "What happened? Your eyes…"

"Not here. Take me out to the garden and I'll tell you everything."

So, they walked and found a bench out among the roses, Lucy told him about fighting the demon spawn and defeating Abaddon. About the death-bed curse.

"You are still beautiful Lucy."

She was thankful that it was dark and that her blush couldn't truly be seen.

And all through the evening, Erik held one of her hands in his while Cubellios curled up sturdy and warm by their sides, ever watchful. It was overwhelming in its simplicity. But all Lucia could think about was how it felt so _right_.

When she couldn't stand it any longer, she cupped Erik's cheek in one of her hands and the motion startled him into silence. "I choose you, Erik. If you'll have me, that is."

"Choose me for what?"

She laughed bright and happy. "I _choose you_. For me. You are my choice, and I will never make another."

"Oh. _Oh_."

Then—

"I choose you as well Lucy." Then he leaned forward and between one breath and the next he kissed her so sweetly that she gasped at the softness. Then her head pounded heavily and there was a bright flash of white light.

Then nothing at all.

She tried to open her eyes and see again because surely that was the One magic, surely her eyes had healed.

But it was just black still. No shapes, no colours to be seen. She felt like weeping, but before a tear was shed, a little light blinked into existence in front of her. Deep purple and flickering with untamed life. Then another, by her feet, a poisonous soothing green.

"Lucy, what happened? Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

She gasped when the light wavered like a living flame. She reached out to touch it knocked her knuckles against Erik's chest. "Erik. I think—I think I can see your soul. Amazing, it is so gorgeous."

He laughed and kissed her again, hugged her hard to his chest.

Lucia would never again see the light of day, but she would always be able to see the souls of others. And that was wondrous to them both.

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

They were married on the longest day of the year in a ceremony under the Tenrou tree. Lucia donned her golden armour again, with her eyes bound in white lace. Erik waited for her underneath the boughs with her family spread out before her. She didn't need the help of a walking stick any longer, for she saw much more than anyone else.

Their vows were simple, yet binding as they rang clear through the trees. They danced until dawn rose on the other side of the mountains and that night Erik laid his Princess down in their marriage bed and stated in no uncertain terms just how amazing he thought she was, how beautiful she was to him.

How much he loved her and always would.

Nine months later, Lucia gave birth to a baby girl, strong and willful just like her mother with glowing violet eyes like her father.

Lucia took one look at her daughter's tiny white soul and wept joyful tears. "Her name is Daphne." She would say, and Erik would kiss her sweetly because it was perfect.


	4. Invite

All Rights to Hiro Mashima

Hello, hi. Everyone enjoying CoLu week this year?! I know I loveeddddd GemNika's wonderfully dark and sexy vampire AU. Seriously, go check it out if you haven't already. :3

This one came from nothing. I had no idea what to write for this prompt and the suddenly one afternoon BAM words on a page.

Love you all my precious cupcakes, stay crazy,

LoadedEel

* * *

 **Mamba**

 _Day 3: Invite_

* * *

They called him The Locksmith.

Not many knew his actual name, and only a few alive could even remember it. He was an immortal, a cornerstone in many cultures, generation after generation told his story. The One Who Closed Doors, The Everlasting Lock, Eternal Secret Keeper, they whispered into the night. Children let go of their insecurities and clandestine adventures to him in hushed voices over pillows and blankets. Adults hoped that he would grant them a marriage that clicked as easily as one of his deadbolts, that it would last and they would link forever.

But there was only one person, and it was hard to tell if she was a true person at all, that knew his first name. The one that he gave her when the sun and the stars and the moon came together in the Heavens after Titania demanded better security on High after Salamander wept bitterly at his brother's betrayal. After Spriggan was cast out to the Depths to fester and rot. Because she held all the keys to the stars, and he had sacrificed one of her beloved friends for greed and power, she agreed. She held keys that didn't fit any locks, they were unsafe, vulnerable.

So, she traveled to the Underneath and met a man whose flowers grew in already dead and was filled with tragedy and was ignorant of why he was the only one left alive. He held no love for the ones on High, he was unbiased and wicked and so incredibly intelligent, but ill. She gave him the option, go on living like he had been and die of disease too early, or become her other half, immortal until the galaxies stopped turning.

He had watched for a moment with a cruel smirk, words dripping like honey off his tongue. "You already know what my answer will be, don't you?" He said.

She knew. She had always known that he would accept. That was half the reason she had chosen him in the first place. The other half was that he intrigued her greatly.

"Who are you? Really?"

"I have held many names over the years. They call me the Key Holder now."

"What should I call you then?"

She laughed. He was unbothered by her status, by her ethereality. She liked that very much. "You may call me by my first. Lucia."

He nodded and glanced around his small house, at the roots of the skeleton trees and the withered flowers that pushed through brittle grass. "Hmmm, Lucia. Then you may call me Erik, but only if you grant me a boon."

She nodded, delighted by his boldness. "Erik. _Honorable ruler_ , a good name. Ask and you shall receive if it is in my power to gift it. Keep in mind that I cannot resurrect the dead, nor can I send anyone to their own demise. I do not have the power over life like The One Who Rules does."

He pointed lazily to the withered branches of bone-white trees then to the dry spindle grass that grew in tough and lifeless. "Why does everything die before it has a chance to live in this place?"

Enchanted at his choice of question, she was more than happy to answer. "Erik, I am afraid that your clan had the unfortunate luck to try and build a home above an ancient relic that unlike myself, does have the power over what lives and dies."

He was silent, eyes curious in the half-light of the waning moon. She could see that he was more than intrigued and gave him a wicked grin back. "Beneath this crust of earth we stand on, bubbles an everlasting spring. When blessed correctly by someone with the power to do so, the water from that well can give the drinker immortality, but if not, it takes life instead. The fabled Fountain of Youth, as it were. My people call it the Well of Souls."

"Bit of a misnomer, isn't it?"

"Quite. Anything that uses the water without the blessing to grow is fated to die."

Erik eyed the dusty ground before pinning her with his violet eyes. "We really didn't have a chance here, did we?"

"None."

"Did the water always kill?"

"No, once, in the beginning, it was something that healed and brought life. But the water was cursed and no one can figure out how. No one in a thousand years has truly gone looking for the reason why though."

"I see. I should have died here too, then."

"Yes, but you held up longer than most which is truly remarkable. I have never seen anything quite like you before, Erik. And I am older than everything, so it isn't a something to scoff at."

"Just how old are you?"

"Didn't your mother teach you never to ask a lady her age?"

"My mother died, here, when I was young. And you are not a lady."

Lucia loomed in front of him, her face ethereal and terrifying. But her smile was warm. "You will be spectacular Erik. Fearless and wicked, you are the right choice for this I think. And to answer your question, I am timeless. Ancient beyond all things."

His eyes glowed at the praise. "Lucia, what must I do to stave off my death?"

"Pledge yourself. Your eternal servitude." She held up her hand here to stop him from blurting something before it was time. "But not to me, no. You will not serve me, but the truth. You will uphold honesty and hold the secrets of every being in Earthland behind your locks. As I am now, I am truly vulnerable. However, with the power granted you could become the immortal to close the gates that have been left open for eons. You will be unbiased and true, answering not to myself or even to any of those on High. You would be separate, but at all times, my equal."

He was silent again, but something in his eyes made her laugh with barely restrained glee. "Have you made your decision, Erik of Nirvana?"

"I have, Key Holder. Lucia. I accept your offer."

"Then it shall be done." She glided forward with surprising grace and kissed her other half with everything she had. Lucia broke off a part of her very essence and shoved it violently into the other man who only moaned and delved deeper into her mouth with his tongue.

Erik sunk down to his knees, the dry grass snapping under his weight. He panted for air and smirked sharply, teeth a white scar through his face. "I was truly not expecting that."

Lucia wiped her bottom lip off with her thumb. "There are many ways to create that which does not yet exist, to warp and change and make new. I just enjoy that method more than others."

"I believe that I will enjoy working with you, Lucia. I have no doubt that it will be… _fun_."

She smiled but sobered quickly. "You are immortal now Erik, but have no place with us, no name, no station. You must earn that, and quickly too for my keys and I will be exposed until there can be a lock on the gates that truly holds them closed. Right now, the seal is inefficient and make-shift."

"What must I do?"

She leaned into his body again and grazed their lips together softly. "Prove yourself, dear Erik." She breathed into his mouth. "Any way you can. Then, when have a name, I can invite you to the one place that will give you the station that I promised."

"Fine. How long do I have to do this?"

"A single turn of the seasons Erik. That is all I can give you."

"That is all I need, Lucia." He kissed her again, and she stumbled as he took more of her life force for himself. Such a small thing, but his knowledge and the fact that he could do something so intimate so quickly made her tingle.

"You will be so beautiful when you are finished, Erik. Come back to me soon. I cannot wait long."

He nodded and with a last impish lick to her lips he darted away into the gnarled mess of skeleton trees that bordered the mountains. Lucia reveled in the taste of her other half and grins as a flash of fire greets her.

"Do you really think you made the right choice sister?"

"Oh, Natsu. He is _perfect_."

"If you say so. He looks a little…devilish for my tastes."

Lucia grinned at her older brother in all but blood. "But to my tastes, he is what I need. And I him. We complete each other, just as you and Gray do. And that man is delicious, dear brother."

"Then he will be everything I cannot be."

"I never begrudged you for that Natsu. I could never be what you needed as well. It just wasn't in the cards for us you know."

"But he is?"

"He is."

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

One year to the day found Lucia standing among the garden that had once belonged to Erik. She was restless, her other half had been gone for hundreds of days and the time between attacks from the Depths had been growing shorter. The gates must be sealed, and soon, lest she loses another dear friend. Aquarius was her first, the spirit strong and unimaginably powerful, but Zeref had the Black Arts on his side and many followers that agreed with his plans blindly. The constellation of the Water Barer had been wiped from the sky and the mortals who still dwelled in the Underneath were confused and heartbroken. Lucia could feel that.

So, she needed the one who would close the gate and she needed him now. It did not help that she longed for him in other ways too. He had a bit of her life force inside him, and it called to her, as she knew it would.

The figure that finally emerged from the trees at dusk was familiar, but so entirely different she almost didn't recognize him. Hair still auburn, but short sat atop his head. His face once smooth was marred on one side by a massive scar that bisected his eye. His clothing, torn and dirty from blood and mud hung limp around his muscular frame. He was paler than he should be, and Lucia had no idea why.

"Lucia," he whispered, and it was like coming home to her. That piece of her soul called out to her and she didn't struggle against the need she felt.

He met her in the middle of the courtyard and she fell into his embrace with all the grace of a baby deer. "Erik. Look at you. You have come so far." She brushed a finger down his still sensitive scar and fire burned down her spine at his shiver.

"Lucia. It has been so long. Too long." He leaned forward and devoured her mouth with a hunger that she had very rarely seen. She moaned while sparks cracked up her bones at the feeling of finally being one after long days and longer nights of being apart.

She pulled back to breathe and rested her forehead against his. One eye burned bright and violet into her own amber. He was still just as handsome as that first day she saw him, but something now made him more dangerous, more exciting. "A name, Erik. Did you find one?"

He only nodded and then gestured down with one hand to the garden. "I think that I have more than proven myself worthy of it, Key Holder."

Lucia looked and what she found astounded her. No longer was this just a patch of dead weeds and skeleton branches devoid of green, but something new, something more. There was colour back in the garden again. Tiny white flowers had started to grow and the grass was more vibrant than before. There was life.

"Remarkable, Erik. You must tell me everything about your adventure."

He laughed and kissed her sweetly on the forehead. "As you wish."

Erik started that day he had left with a part of her essence inside him. He had gone for the mountains to look for the entrance to the Fountain of Youth and believed that it could be found in a cave. He happened upon it when spring had turned into summer and had journeyed deep within the cave overcoming rock slides and all manner of beasts that inhabited the tunnels. He found as an immortal, he needed little sleep and no longer thirsted for water or hungered for food. It was easy to keep going and so he did. Down into the depths of the cave until he came upon a pool of crystal clear water and he knew he had finally found what he was looking for. It was innocuous at best, nothing fancy to look at, but he knew he was in the right place when he was confronted by the keeper of the well. The one that had found the Fountain of Youth millennia ago and had kept it for itself.

Erik looked at Lucia who was enraptured by his story, and stripped off his meager shirt and turned his back to her. She gasped as she saw the black snake tattoo that curled up his spine, the head rested just behind where his immortal heartbeat. As if it was guarding him now.

"This beast Erik. Was it a basilisk?"

"Yes. She is."

"She?"

"Her name is Cubellios, and she is the reason why the Fountain of Youth was so deadly. Her poison had been seeping into the water for thousands of years."

She breathed deep. A remarkable feat, doing something that no one had thought of doing before. What an extraordinary man Erik was. "Did you slay her, Erik?"

His muscles rippled as the tattoo slithered to life, down his arm, and from his hand came a light. Then before her bewildered gaze, a massive snake with emeralds for eyes glared down at her and hissed. Erik smirked at his other half while he ran his hands over Cubellios' scales.

"No. I tamed her instead."

Lucia's eyes sought his out. "And your eye?"

It flicked over Cubellios and the snake collapsed and wound its way around his neck and down his back to sit still on his spine until called on again. "The price I had to pay. A necessary sacrifice."

She let her hand drag down the tattoo and delighted at the muscles bunching under her touch. "She is exquisite Erik." As she made her way around him, Erik caught her hands in his own and brought her closer so that she could feel the heat of his skin through her flimsy dress.

"I have missed you, Lucia."

Her smile softened. "And I you." The kiss this time was long and languid as if they had all the time in the world to map each other's mouths. "Erik. Did you find a name? Can you tell me?"

He barked a laugh and buried his nose into the crook of her neck. "It is Cobra, Lucia. Ironic, isn't it?"

"But fitting. It suits you well…Cobra."

His eye darted up to hers again. "Others will call me that name. But to you, I want to be only Erik."

She nosed along the shell of his ear, just to hear him groan into the skin of her neck. "Only if I am always just Lucia to you, Erik. All but my brothers call me Nova, my name that was given to me when I proved myself worthy of such things."

"Then it's a deal."

She grinned happily to the sky as he sealed his promise with a light kiss to her collarbone. "It is done. Come, Erik. You are formally invited to the ceremony on High. You will receive your station, and then after…well. My blood hums for you, and I can feel yours call to me." She twisted her hips to graze along his interest that sat stiff by her thigh. "After, we will join in all ways, truly be one. And we can begin as two halves to the same whole."

His answering kiss left her winded and breathless in the best ways. "Promise, Lucia?" He purred.

"I promise, dear Erik."

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

Her family was judgmental and sometimes closed off, but Cobra didn't let it get to him, especially because none of the rest of them had a loyal basilisk by their side. Titania the Shield, who he glimpsed always armed and dangerous with a weapon that seemed to change with her mood, eyed him from across the room with barely held annoyance. Salamander the Flame Bringer, an older than sin half Dragon from days long passed, watched him closely as he stood by his mate, Absolute Zero. Their bodies were always in tune with each other, and Cobra could see that they were each other's halves, just as he and Lucia were. He saw how they moved together and hoped that with time, he and Lucia would match their trust in each other.

The Demon, Titan, and Mystogan all were curious before he was brought before Gran Dorma, The One Who Rules. He was asked his name, to which he supplied _Cobra_ in a loud voice. He was asked to divulge his story from where he received this name. As an answer, he stripped his shirt and turned to let them see the tattoo. He pushed for Cubellios to come and was delighted to see the looks of shock and one of absolute glowing pride from Lucia.

Gran Dorma listened and seemed wary of the gigantic beast at his side. But he agreed that Nova the Key Holder had made the right choice. When he had slipped his shirt back on after calling Cubellios back into his skin, Lucia lead him by the hand to an enormous gate. "This is the first Gate, Cobra." He watched as thin black tendrils of smoke pushed through the cracks between the metal.

He wanted to reach out and touch them, shove them back so that the brass was clean and bright. "As you can see, the seal is breaking, the lock crumbling. It was only temporary…but—"

"You have me now. I have pledged myself. I have proven that I am worthy of a name. All that is left is the station I was promised. I am ready, Lucia. Give me a purpose."

Her lips descended on his for only a moment and he watched as tar black need blew her pupils wide in her hunger for him. Cobra felt the same, his blood sang and skin itched uncomfortably in his clothes. "I promised you, that you would have whatever you wanted if I was able to make it so. And I can give you this, Erik. Ask and it is yours, I cannot deny you anything you want."

"Just you, Lucia. As my half, and for a reason to continue existing. I was meant to be the one to lock away the darkness that would try to find you. I can feel it in my bones, in my veins like the sweetest poison."

"Then it is yours. Both myself, and what you crave to be."

That very same day, she named him the Gatekeeper, and Cobra locked the Gate closed, repaired every crack and became the immortal of kept secrets.

Lucia was thrilled and when they came together it was violent and primal. He took her hard and fast against their chamber door, then bent over her chaise and then again, slower this time, spread out and sated on the bed. "You will know me, Lucia. You will know the feel of me inside you and you will want for no other."

"You were made for me Erik. You know that there will only be us, like this, until the end of days."

His rhythm faltered when she spoke those words and the harsh slap of skin against skin could be heard throughout the Palace on High. Their family knew what they were doing, but Lucia didn't try to muffle her joyful screams as her Gatekeeper pushed her to new heights and dropped her off cliffs into ecstasy previously unknown to her.

"I am yours, Cobra."

"As I am yours, for eternity, Nova."

And she was content for she had the half of her that would keep her safe, and he had his half that would always find him, for she was the Key Holder, and she could unlock any door.


	5. Pyramid

All Rights to Hiro Mashima

I was double doggy dared to write a trope (which I really try to stay away from, honestly, but LOVE reading so much) so…here we go. :D

* * *

 **Copperhead**

 _Day 4: Pyramid_

* * *

"How pissed do you think Erza's gunna be?"

"What kind of question is that? This is a massive fucking problem, Natsu. She's gunna be livid! She'll take one look at fucking _Cobra_ here and blame this pile of shit on the both of us. Then turn us into living pincushions with all her stupid swords and katanas and spears and shit."

"—yeah. Probably. I did _not see this one coming though_."

"Do you ever?"

"Fair point. Also, shut the fuck up Fullbuster."

"You love me."

"Mmmm. Yeah, I do, but let's come back to that later. Uhmmm…how pissed do you think Luce is gunna be about this little…ah…problem here?"

"Dude. She'll kick your balls clean off, then sic Cancer on us and then we'll be that sad gay bald couple with no hamstrings."

"Thought so. Seems like something she'd do."

"Remember last time? With the guy—"

"The guy in the market that hit on her and two months later there's _still_ scorch marks on the pavement from her overenthusiastic use of Loke's Stardress? Yah I remember. Blamed that one on hormones. Then the next—"

"Cause she was hungry…yeah, I know. We're not going to survive this are we?"

"No. Nope. Uh uh. Not even a little bit."

"Jesus fucking Christ. Of all the goddamn things. Fucking pixies man. Why are those little shits real and no one can find any fairies in all of Earthland? Now we have to lug his _fat unconscious ass_ —"

"Quit your bitchin' babe. I don't see you doing any of the carrying."

"It's cause I know you love showing off your ridiculous strength, and you know I can't fucking resist you when you lift shit."

"Okay. Here's the plan. We get on the train, go to the bathroom and I fuck your dirty mouth real quick, then I give you a handy, I write my will leaving all the fish in the house to Happy, go back to Magnolia, deliver _Cobra_ into the hands of the angel of death with hair that's died with the blood of her enemies, then run like hell. We might be able to fuck one last time if we're super-fast."

"Best thing I've heard all day."

"That's cause I'm fucking brilliant, Gray."

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

Lucy paced around the guild hall, one hand on her back wincing at every turn she made as her bladder was kicked into submission. She rubbed her stomach wearily with a fond smile. Just like their momma, they had the most badass kung-fu abilities.

It only _just_ made up for the fact that she was peeing upwards of twenty times a day. The little viper in her definitely liked to make their momma squirm.

She shot Levy a look which was returned by a small shrug of her shoulders. "Don't look at me Lulu, I don't like this radio silence any more than you do. Usually means that they're either fucking and forgot about the time again and missed the train, or something's wrong. You know that. They're your best friends."

"I know Lev, but seriously? It was supposed to be for two days. You know that and I know that. When those three boneheads come back they'll know that because Erza will put the fear of God into them, again."

"I wished that fear would stick sometimes, you know? Would make balancing these books for the guild easier. Less property damage and all."

"Yeah. True." The blonde winced as her little parasite rolled over and squished her almost non-existent bladder into her spine. "You know what I would wish for? Not having to go to the washroom a million fucking times per day. That would be fantastic."

"I hear yah babe. Go, I'll trap them in a rune wall if they come in while you're gone." Levy ticked another expense in her ledger with a small snort before waving her best friend off with a smile.

"Thanks. I'll be right back." Lucy turned and headed for the bar first, craving something calming from the one person who knew her plight better than anyone. "Mira, can I grab a smoothie from you?"

At seven months along, Mira was still a sight to behold, gorgeous and glowing with twin lightning babies who were quiet and peaceful and let her sleep all night long. Laxus had wanted her to stop working behind the bar at five months. Mira had promptly withheld sex and the Lightning Dragon Slayer had caved pathetically after two days.

Lucy still held that over his head when he was in a particularly good mood. She loved her brother, but they still squabbled like actually siblings, something that amused everyone and confused visitors once they realized that they weren't related by blood at all.

"Want me to put anything special in it?"

"A little aconite would be wonderful, thanks, Mira."

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

"What the fuck? Salamander? What—? Where?"

"So, this is probably worse than we thought, right?"

"Uh. Yeah."

"Oi! Don't you fucking ignore me. Where's the rest of my guild? Where the fuck am I?"

"Woah! Don't you dare—Cobra, stop trying to poison us! Fuck. Just—"

"Do you really think you're any match for us? For the Oracion Seis?"

"Shit."

"When Brain—"

"Did you really just knock out Cobra with your elbow?"

"Is that really important right now Gray? Can we focus on the bigger issue here? On the fact that Cobra said _Oracion Seis_ , and not Neo Oracion Seis or even Crime Sorciere?"

"Yeah, that does seem like a bad thing doesn't it."

"You think!?"

"Also…do you think Luce will notice the fact that he suddenly has both his eyes back?"

" _Yes._ "

"Fucking pixies man. _Jesus_."

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

Laxus pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers and silently cursed the obviously cackling spirit of his Gramps who was looking up at him from down in his cushy room in hell. Why did this shit always happen to Fairy Tail? Goldmine never _ever_ had these problems in Quatro Cerberus.

Never.

He shot a withering glance at Lucy as she slurped the last of her smoothie noisily from the glass, just to get on his nerves, he was sure. She shrugged and slurped harder, lips pulled up into a tiny impish grin.

Erza sat serenely with a slice of cake that was more whip cream than anything and would be no help at all. At least she wasn't rampaging around about the slight to Lucy's honour or something this time.

It was probably for the best.

Back to the problem at hand, which was just more—inconvenient than anything.

"So, what you're saying is…Cobra here…"

Natsu laid face down on the surface of one of the wooden tables his rune prison was centered on, nose smashed down into the grains and pouting heavily. Gray rolled his eyes and flicked the tip of his boyfriend's ear petulantly, hip leaning against that same table. "We finished the mission, and were walking back through the West Forest when we stumbled on a nest."

"A nest?"

"A nest."

Levy buried her grin behind a large book as Laxus looked like he was either asking for strength from above or whether or not it was okay for him as a guild master to smite someone with his own lightning.

Lucy finally relinquished her straw long enough to grunt loudly. "Get to the fucking point Fullbuster. I have to pee, again, and I want to know why my husband is both unconscious and projecting an aura of hatred and mistrust after we fucking worked so long to get rid of his murderous tendencies. When he left here three days ago, Erik was about to turn thirty-five. Now he has both of his eyeballs in his skull and wants to know where his little band of psychos are before they were all reformed and honorable and shit."

"Okay. Jesus, Luce. I'm getting to it."

"Well, get to it faster, I'll push out this baby before you're done and I'm only five months along."

Laxus smirked. He sometimes loved pregnant Lucy. Other times…not so much. Her realizing that she could create small amounts of poison was just disastrous. All it did was give everybody the runs for a few days and now only the Slayers ate anything at the guild without letting Levy check it first.

She was a mischievous little shit, and he couldn't even blame this one on Lucy's dumb husband. Not even on her half Demon best friend and tiny flying blue imp that followed them around.

Nope. That was all his fault. He should have known better than to leave Bix and Lucy alone in a room for any length of time. Two fucking pranksters in a messed-up pod they were.

Laxus glared heavily at his own best friend who hovered next to Lucy's left elbow. Next to Cobra, he was the most protective of her when she became pregnant. It was nice to see that side of him.

But also weird.

The blonde started to chew on her discarded straw anxiously as she shot looks at Cobra as he laid prone in his own separate rune prison on the opposite side of the guild hall away from all the commotion. Wendy stood over him, examining his body for any noticeable ill effects. Gajeel hovered close by in case he woke up and tried to sacrifice someone to a giant clock again.

Or whatever crazy wacko scheme his brain was cooking up while he laid unconscious. Lucy wasn't really worried about that, she could take him, hell, anyone in this guild could take him. It was the fact that he had two fucking eyes again— _Jesus,_ two eyes!—that was making her flip out.

Natsu turned his head and stared balefully up at the bar where Mira stood, mourning his lack of fire chicken and spiced whiskey. "We stumbled over a pixie's nest, Luce. We didn't even know they were real. They started firing off these weird spells that really only did harmless things. Tied Gray's shoelaces together, dyed one of my eyebrows green, transformed all our loose change into chocolate gold. Weird stuff, but nothing terrible. But then…"

"Oh my god, Natsu. What the fuck did you do?"

"It was an accident! I didn't mean to singe their Queen's hair off! They blew pepper in my face, you know what happens when I sneeze!"

Gray patted the back of his boyfriend's head who was slumped down brooding into the wood again. "Her spells…not so harmless. I think the Pixies were just curious, and it was just pranking, something Bickslow might do. But, I think the Queen felt threatened. The next thing we knew, there was this crackling sound and Cobra got hit full in the face with this purple light and then he was unconscious."

Natsu groaned beside him.

Laxus sighed heavily.

Gray cocked his head and examined his nails in a bored manner. "It wasn't too bad, he was breathing fine, and he didn't look all clammy and gross, so we just thought the pixies had shot off something to make him fall asleep so that they could escape, that sort of thing. But then—"

Lucy glared at her best friends and to this day Natsu swears that some of his hair on the back of his head would never grow in correctly again from the force of her laser stare. "Get to the point." She gritted out between clenched teeth.

"He woke up when we made it Magnolia, asked where the Oracion Seis were and then tried to poison both of us. So Natsu knocked him out again and here we are. Oh, also, he's got two eyes, who knew that could happen?"

Laxus sighed again. Lucy held up one finger then strode off to the washroom. She needed time to think, and she had to pee again anyways. Two birds, one stone.

"Fucking pixies," Natsu mumbled while Gray rolled his eyes.

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

"Lulu. Freed and I checked the library to make sure, but we are almost one hundred and ninety-five percent positive that whatever the Queen blasted Cobra won't affect him forever, it's not permanent. Now, the spell that she used…that's a bit tricky and the counter curse isn't a spell that can be done by anyone. It's a potion? I think? I'm a little hazy on the details because it looks like someone spilled _something_ on this book and it bled the ink a bit, but that's why I wasn't two hundred percent positive."

"What the hell happened to him anyway?"

"De-aged. The disorientation and fainting from his body literally getting younger spontaneously would allow the pixies to escape without being hurt and or killed."

"Jesus. De-aged? How many years did they take?"

"It's hard to say without asking his age directly, but the fact that he has both eyes again and is looking for the Oracion Seis and not the Neo Oracion Seis, probably means that they got _at least_ thirteen years, maybe a bit more."

"That is…not good."

"No. It's definitely not. We can either make the elixir or we can wait for the effects to wear off on their own."

"How long?"

"Give or take five months. I think."

"Nope. I need Erik there when I try to push this baby outta me. He has to be right there, with only one eye and not thinking that he still needs to rule the world through Nirvana or decides to throw time into chaos through a clock again."

"I can see where that would be problematic. However, Wendy can whip up that potion in no time, but it's going to take at least four days, there's an ingredient, a plant that we _must use_. There isn't a substitute for it and it grows under the snow at the summit of Mount Hakobe."

"One and a half days out, a day to find and pick the little buggers, one and a half days to travel back. Gotcha."

"Precisely."

"So. I'll be going on the next train then. But I need to pee first. God I hate that mountain."

"Uhm. No. You will not be going. You will sit your pregnant butt in that chair and you will deal with your husband when he comes to. You smell like him, and that will make it easier for Cobra to listen to you about how you're his wife, and mate, that you're growing his baby and that we are not in fact, enemies. If he back talks you, just grab Kinana and it'll sort him out."

"But—"

"Do not argue with me Lucy Ashley Heartfilia. Do. Not."

"Lev!"

"Nuh uh. That is my Goddaughter in there and she needs their momma to be healthy and not dead in the everlasting ice that is Mount Hakobe. Nope."

" _Fine_. You're stupid and annoying when you're right."

"I know. Don't worry too much about it though. Just make Gray and Natsu go, it's their fault anyway."

"Oh. Good point. But I'm a little worried they'll forget about it and just make out a bunch. It's happened before."

"True. Very true. Also, gross. But true. Send Erza with them."

"I love your little evil genius brain."

"I gotchu babe."

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

"What the hell did you fairies do to me?"

"Okay, first of all, I don't really care for your hostile attitude. And second, why is it that you wake up in Fairy Tail and assume that something was done to you? Couldn't we have saved you from something? Aren't we the good guys in all this? We don't kidnap, and we don't kill, maim or torture. And we do not sacrifice. People. To clocks. That one was all you darling."

Cobra, was—confused. More or less. One minute he was in prison, the next he was being dragged through a train station by that overactive Flamethrower and the Stripsicle. He also didn't know why he wanted to give them _those_ nicknames, just like he wanted to call the blonde woman who was tapping her foot on the ground outside his rune prison something to do with—sparkles? Sunshine? Something bright.

It was weirding him the fuck out.

"Why are you fucking worried about my attitude? You should be more worried about what the hell my guild is going to do to you once they get out and come find me. The Oracion Seis was undefeated until you people came along." He squinted at her, she was kinda familiar in a strange sort of way.

"I think I remember you from Nirvana. But you were less," he waved his hands around trying to find the words he wanted. "Round last time."

"I'm fucking pregnant dipshit." The woman pinched the bridge of her nose. "And you _would_ remember me, but only a little bit. I was the Celestial Mage that took down Angel back in the day."

The way she talked, it was as if those things had happened a long time ago, and not just last week. Which is what it felt like.

"Yo, Luce. I wanna test something out real quick."

"Make it fast Natsu. I gotta pee again."

The pink haired mage sidled up towards the blonde, when he suddenly dove down and rubbed his nose along the fair skin of her neck.

A snarl bubbled out of his chest and startled him so badly that it petered off into a strangled squeak. Which no one would ever speak about. "What the fuck was that?"

"Uh huh. I thought so. He still has his protective instincts intact and they're in overdrive cause his mate is pregnant with his hatchling."

Lucy swatted at the pink-haired mage. "Don't you have a plant to dig for somewhere cold? And for the last time, Natsu, they're called babies. They are not dragons. Gods, why do I put up with you?" She walked away and left a reeling Cobra sitting on the floor, brain stalled over the fact that the Salamander had called that woman his mate. And she was pregnant.

"I need to smell her." It was the first thing his brain could truly process, and he wasn't really all that surprised when what came out was a little creepy.

"Sure. When she gets back. Luce pees like a thousand times a day now. Thanks for that, by the way. Makes taking her on train trips super delightful and not at all bitchy."

"You know, I'm not gunna apologize for something I can't even remember doing. How do I know that this is even real and not some stupid elaborate trick that you idiots cooked up to like…gain my trust or something?"

"Because you have been a member of Fairy Tail for almost four years, Erik. We wouldn't do something like this to one of our own."

He growled and lunged at the blonde who had come back, only to be stopped by the flashing run prison. "How do you know that name?! Who told you?"

"You did. When I ran into you on a job in Seven. Four and a half years ago I saved your life from a Shadow Wyvern and we traveled together searching for a key for six months."

"What the fucking shit is going on? Why can't I remember anything? I still don't have proof of any of this other than your word."

She scoffed, but looked saddened by his words. "You mean my words as a Celestial Mage isn't enough? Fine, look at your left forearm."

An acid green guild mark for the Fairy Tail guild peeked out from between his layers of shirts and the still fading shackle scars around his wrists.

"This—this is…a trick…or something—would I know? My own mind. I would know if something was wrong!"

"Erik, why haven't you asked where Cubellios is?"

That question silenced him. "I don't—"

"It's because subconsciously your brain knows that she hasn't taken snake form in over a decade Erik. Cubellios is fine, she's here actually. The barmaid with the purple hair? That's her, she's called Kinana now. Hold on—Kina! Can you wave or…like I don't know, smile or something?"

"What the fuck? That's Cu?"

"Oh, yeah. Long story, its super riveting. Has a seven-year nap, a disappearing island, and a woman who was cursed to be a snake. I'll tell you later if you want. But, for now, just…listen to my soul Erik. Listen to hers. You'll hear the truth, I promise."

So, he did, and what he found really threw him for a fucking loop.

* * *

 _Do you think it's really her Cobra?_

 _Yeah. I do. What other gold keys just suddenly show up in Crocus? The fucking Princess is asking for you Starshine, we both know what that means._

 _Thank you. For…I don't know. Everything? For being here at least._

 _You saved my life, I owed you. Don't get all sappy on me. And don't you fucking cry. You know I can't stand that shit._

 _Yeah, yeah. I know. But still, thanks._

 _…call me Erik. Okay?_

 _Sure._

* * *

 _There was only darkness here, but he knew he was safe. He was happy for the first time in forever. He could feel warmth by his side and when he opened his eyes he saw gold._

 _Lucy. Her hair. Everything was gold. Her naked skin in the moonlight, the sheets that bunched up and twisted around her legs where they were entwined with his._

 _Everything, but his mark, his bite on her hip that was a deep bruising purple._

 _He let everything go black again._

* * *

 _"Cu. What the fuck do I do? How do you just…ask someone?"_

 _"Don't be stupid. You say the words and you ask. She's been your mate for what? A thousand years already? You think she'll say no?"_

 _"No? Yes!? I don't know. This is why I'm asking my best friend!"_

 _"Aw! I'm your bestie?"_

 _"Oi! I'm in a crisis. Fucking help me."_

 _"You are so dramatic."_

* * *

 _"I'm…pregnant?"_

 _"Yeah, Starshine. I can hear the little soul in there. I asked Bix too cause I needed to be sure."_

 _"Oh. My God. I'm—? You're sure Erik?"_

 _"Fuck yeah."_

 _"Jesus. This kid is gunna have your eyes and my brain, it'll be so fucking cute. You're happy? Right?"_

 _"I might even cry a little."_

 _"And I think I might have to throw up. I love, you babe."_

 _"I love you too. You want this right?"_

 _"So much it scares me."_

 _"Marry me."_

 _"Jesus, you are so dumb. Yes, dammit. Come here and fucking kiss me, you giant dramatic dork."_

 _"Shut the fuck up."_

* * *

It was only snatches, small ones. Colours, sounds, some words. But they painted a life he wished he had had when he was young, and a life he knew was too good for him now.

He hadn't even noticed the little blue-haired mage remove the rune cage around him. He was still kneeling on the floor, but everything around him took on a new hue. He knew this place but also didn't. It made him want to curl up around the blonde and now that he could finally fucking smell her, he wanted to bury some of his parts in hers and make her smell even more like him. But did he really deserve all this?

Cobra winced as the blonde, who he now knew as Lucy (Starshine?), flicked him firmly in the middle of his forehead. "Nope. None of that. I have worked too hard and loved you for too long for you to question shit again. I almost lost you once three years ago, I won't go through it again."

"What? How would you know what I was even thinking? You a mind reader?"

Her face softened, eyes filling with warmth. "No, I just now you better than you know yourself. I could see it in your face. Even if you are almost fifteen years younger than you were three days ago."

"I lived passed thirty?"

A quick breath from the blonde and the blank face she gave him was all he needed to see to know those words were the wrong ones to say. "You almost didn't, but you did. Your thirty-fifth birthday is in a week."

That more than anything, the confirmation that he had gotten out of his shitty life and into one that he could only fantasize about at the age he apparently was, _again_ , had him believing. Cobra leaned over and placed his forehead on Lucy's rounded stomach. It was weird how unweird it felt doing that.

"Erik?"

"Shh. Just…let me. I need to listen, please."

A hand came down and sifted through his hair and he felt like purring it was so good. "Take your time. But not too much time. This kid likes to kick my spleen a lot."

So, he smirked and brought a hand up and laid it carefully next to his head. Then he listened harder than he had in his life.

The heartbeat of the little life in Lucy was suddenly so loud that he couldn't believe that it hadn't drowned out everything else. Then he let go of everything and trusted that he would be fine, vulnerable on the wooden floor of that guild that he knew he should hate but didn't. The tiny soul he could hear was sweet and pure, and undeniably sassy.

His child was going to be a handful. But also, super kick-ass, so that was okay.

He breathed deep, suddenly the hands clenched around his lungs were gone.

"The name?"

"We don't have one for her yet."

"Her?" He was having a baby girl. Would you look at that? Better than anything he could have dreamt of.

"Her." The hand stilled in his hair and he pouted at the loss. "Come on Erik. Off the gross floor that hasn't been mopped in ten years, we can go home and talk more there while I sit on a stupidly comfortable couch and eat something that I'll pretend is chocolate but isn't."

Cobra had a feeling as he unstuck himself from the sticky floor, that he would probably follow this woman anywhere.

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

"So, I bet you have a bunch of questions."

"Uh. Yes. Like, at least a hundred of them." He poked the pyramid of cards that Lucy had made on the coffee table when she got bored of waiting for her husband to come home from his mission. It fell over and he flinched back apologetically, to which he waved away. They had more important things to think about now.

"I bet. Okay, lay it on me. I don't care what you ask, it can be about anything. You already know everything about me and I know you're probably finding this hard to believe but I know everything about you. And yes, I mean, everything. The tower included."

"I told you about that?"

"Oh. Yeah. That delightful conversation gave me nightmares for months. Brain was a fucking sadist."

"Was?"

"Jesus, this might be hard to explain. He's dead now, don't worry. But, maybe I should just like…start from the beginning? Oh, this will be fun. I can't wait to see your expressions about some of the shit that happened to us over the years."

"That might be a good idea. Last thing I remember I was in jail at ERA being poked by a giant frog person."

"Okay, so that was just after Nirvana then. After we gave you and Jellal to the Rune Knights, you were sent to prison, and my team went back to Fairy Tail. Nothing much happened to you in there for like eight years, until the Oracion Seis escaped, renamed themselves the Neo Oracion Seis and started to terrorize the countryside, sacrificing and killing off all the Celestial Mages in Earthland."

"This was Midnight's idea, wasn't it?"

"Got it in one babe. It was dumb then and it's still dumb now."

"Sounds dumb."

"Mhmmm. We had to fight you and everyone else all over again, along with this legion from Zentopia. There was this big octopus thing and a clock. Oh my God, this dumb clock. Let me tell you this thing was massive and also so stupid, and you sacrificed me to create chaos! I know! Look at your face, I knew this would be the best thing ever. Even better now that you have your other eye back again."

"What the fuck happened to my eye?"

"Shut up, I'll get to it…"

* * *

"So, to summarize your summary. I sacrificed my eye because of something stupid, or for more power or something equally as dumb, tried to put you in a clock that became a fish, was sent to jail, _again_ , thanks to your team. Was released to try and put down a horde of dragons from coming through _time_ to destroy the world, died but didn't really, then was sent back to jail. For the third time. Broke out with the rest of the Seis, again. Found Brain and ripped out his heart, then was beaten by Jellal and was then forced to join his pansy ass guild of guilt and wear a damn cloak for a while—"

"I liked the cloak, made you look super mysterious, and like sexy. You could have always been naked under there and no one would have known."

"—then we were pardoned after the war with Zeref where we _killed Acnologia_ and then…what?"

Cobra had migrated from his seat across the room from Lucy to where he had his head in her lap and turned so he could rub his nose over her baby bump every once in a while. Again, it was weird how right this felt.

So, he went with it, mentally shrugging of the complicated _what the fuck?_ feelings because it was nice and her thighs were comfy.

"Well, when you were pardoned by the King and Hisui, Crime Sorciere disbanded. Apparently, you went your separate ways for a while. You and Midnight traveled back to Caelum to make sure that we weren't lying when we said that we had destroyed the Tower. He's still there in a small town with a couple relatives you found of his, he comes to visit sometimes. You wandered around with no destination I guess, and you stumbled on a nest of Shadow Wyverns—"

"What is with the guild and nests of dangerous creatures? Seriously."

"I know, right? But you almost got your ass handed to you, but I saved you by whipping out some badass light shit that Loke taught me. You didn't want to owe me any favours so you asked how to repay me, I told you to help me find Aquarius' key and we traveled and sparred and bitched at each other for a while. It was nice, having company. Then, we finally make it to a town with a television and there's Hisui calling on the Starbringer to come back to Crocus because and I quote "This mermaid is so fucking bitchy, I can't even," so we snapped up the key and our contract of sorts was over."

Cobra shifted around a bit so he could see her face, Lucy's hand playing unconsciously with the tips of one of his ears. It was soothing and nice, but also a little arousing. "Starbringer?"

"Oh. That's what Jason, a reporter nicknamed me. Just like Laxus is called The Thunder God, and Natsu is The Salamander. It was after the war with Zeref and the damn thing stuck. People in Magnolia still call me the Light of Fairy Tail, but I can't go anywhere else without that name. At least they've forgotten that I was once a Heartfilia. It's nice, I guess. I could live without the autographs though."

"Huh. Alright. Then what?"

"Where was I? Oh. Well, I asked you what you were going to do next, and you said you didn't really have any plans. So, I suggested you come to Fairy Tail and join, and you did. Met Kinana again and that was super sweet and I was so _not_ jealous of the two of you. Then you came with my team and me on a bunch of missions and it was nice. Until about six months of you being in the guild. You stopped talking to me, avoided everyone, even Kina. So, we were all weirded out a bit. I found you packing up all your shit in your apartment and panicked a little. We had this epic screaming match that made no sense sometimes, but then you professed your undying love and shit, and about the mates thing. I punched you in the face, then I jumped your bones right there on your bedroom floor. You were stupid and dumb and I loved you. Still do, even if you can't remember that you love me back."

"Sounds like something I'd do. Leave, run away from something that I thought I didn't deserve."

"You don't do that anymore. Don't worry."

"How long will I stay like this? All young and shit?"

"Oh! Four days at the most. Levy and Wendy will cook up an elixir for you to drink and then _bam!_ I get my husband back and you get almost half of your life."

Cobra stuffed his face back into her stomach and breathed deeply. His mind was warring with itself. Stay with Lucy because she smelled right and felt right. Or run, again. Always running.

"You can take the guest room if you're getting sleepy babe."

He shook his head and sighed. He didn't want to sleep yet, he wanted to hear more. More of Lucy's soul and more of his little baby's. "No, I'm fine. Keep going."

"Wanna hear about the time I poisoned everyone's food a little bit and they all shit themselves because I'm awesome?"

He snorted with laughter. "Sounds good."

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

"Did you get it?"

"Yes!"

"Good, now run!"

"Why the fuck weren't we told that there are Yeti up on Hakobe? Why wasn't I told about this!?"

"Shut the fuck up Erza and move your ass down the mountain!"

"Don't tell me to shut up Fullbuster. It's because of your idiocy we're up here in the first place!"

"Nope. NO. More running, less arguing. We can debate whose fault it is when we get on the train. Which we need to get to so that we can bring that plant back to Wendy, so Lucy doesn't rip off our balls and feed them to us because we had a hand in de-aging her husband."

"Good point babe. You know I love it when you're all decisive and fiery."

"Ugh. You two are super gross."

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

For two days, everything was fine, easy. The only slightly strange thing that happened was when Cobra would pop another question about his life he had forgotten.

They ranged from the easily answered ones, like when he asked about the rest of the Oracion Seis. (Fairy Tail, Mermaid Heel, traveling, and in Caelum) To the strange ones that had her laughing, like when she was having a shower and Cobra had banged loudly through the door only to demand to know whether or not his favourite colour was still orange (yes!). Then there was the question of the wedding, which she happily answered, to a memorable half hour when she described their mating night in excruciating detail just to watch him squirm.

That was a fun afternoon. Lucy hadn't seen Cobra blush that violently ever before. She also loved that he was still almost obsessed with her bump and the little soul he could hear inside. If he wasn't hounding her for answers, he was talking quietly to their baby. Which was nice cause their little viper was a restless thing and actually calmed down when he spoke. She was such a daddy's girl and she hadn't even been born yet.

They hit a snag on the third day, in the evening, when Cobra had stretched tiredly off their couch and shifted to try and crack his back. His shirt had bunched and lifted to show a strip of caramel skin off that she really _really_ wanted to put her mouth on. And her tongue.

And her teeth.

Dammit, she hadn't been really touched by her husband in almost a week and her hormones were all wacky at the best of times.

And now she was fucking turned on so high she was surprised that she wasn't in the stars already.

The next thing she knew, she had moaning Slayer stuck to her back as hands roamed sides to grip at her hips possessively. "Why the fuck do you smell so good? What kind of magic are you pulling right now?"

"None," Lucy gasped. Only to shift backward to rub her ass over Cobra's hardened cock. "No magic. Just, fuck. I _need_ you."

Cobra trailed his nose up her neck, grazing her ear and biting down gently. "Fuck yah."

But, sense finally started to filter through her sex pickled brain. "Wait…wait _hold on_. Down boy. Is this a good idea? Is this cheating? Would I be cheating on you, with you?"

"I'm the same person, just younger."

"But you're not my husband or my mate, not yet at least."

"You do have a point. But fuck, your hot and you smell so good, so either say no now or let me do something to you that you'll never forget."

Lucy didn't really need to think about it. "Not until you're older Cobra. I promise you'll have your way with me then."

He grunted and untangled himself slowly, grunting when he got free. "I'm gunna go jack off. I can't even walk around properly when I'm hard enough to cut diamond."

She laughed heartily, happy that this man was just as kind deep down as he was when he got older. "You got it, Erik. Think of me!"

" _Fuck off_."

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

"What's your deal Lu? You look more anxious and unsettled then I've ever seen you. And you're fidgeting. You never fidget."

"Lev. I'm gunna be straight with you right now. I am so incredibly horny right now that my skin is vibrating off. I'm pretty sure I'm one stiff breeze away from ecstasy right now."

"Oh. Yeah. That'll do it."

"Is this a mate thing? Or just a pregnant thing? I wanna bone my husband. I'm going to ride that jerk so hard he'll be unable to walk properly for a week."

"Steady on, you're not gunna break his dick off, are you? Cause that would not be good."

"No, I'm just gunna tie him down and make him stay there until I'm finished."

"Jesus. Alright. I'll see how Wendy is coming with that elixir."

"Good call. Oh, tell Laxus that he shouldn't expect us back anytime within the next three days. And keep Natsu away from the house, alright?"

"Damn girl, you're going to ride his ass into the ground."

"Don't look at me like that Lev. I deserve this. All the shit I've gone through. I _deserve_ a good plowing every once in a while."

"I gotchu babe."

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

Natsu eyed the rapidly aging man who laid on the cot in front of them, then eyed both his own mate and his best friend who looked like she was about to explode with both excitement and anticipation at the same time. "Luce? What's going on?"

Without pulling her eyes away from the growing scar cutting across Cobra's cheek Lucy waved a hand at both of them. "Don't come by the house for at least four days Natsu. You too Gray. Tell Erza."

Natsu gave a hearty sniff and then nodded while wrinkling his nose. "Jesus, Luce. Don't break him."

She flashed a smile at him, her eyes dark and wild. "No promises."

Gray, ever oblivious just blinked then smirked down at Cobra's open eye. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

"Glad to be back you fuckers."

His eye strayed past them to where Lucy was trying mostly unsuccessfully to pull herself up onto the bed without injuring Cobra and the baby at the same time. He reached out a hand and tugged her to his chest. "Hey, Starshine."

"Erik." Her eyes gleamed and her smile was so fucking predatory that Natsu almost flinched away.

"Why do you look like you're gunna eat me."

"You don't know the half of it." He watched as his best friend got started by devouring her husband's mouths and let out one of the filthiest moans he's ever heard. He wheeled towards the door or the infirmary, tugging Gray along behind him. "We need to leave. Right now."

They met Wendy on the way down the corridor and just spun her around and made her walk down towards the beer hall with them. Because Cobra's fine Wendy, he's just a little busy getting his _brain sucked out through his dick right now_.

* * *

 **-ooo-**

* * *

Cobra played with a strand of his wife's hair. It was nice to feel whole again, content beside his mate and sated.

So incredibly sated. Lucy was a feisty bastard and loved to keep him pinned while she took what she needed from his body and his cock. He was fine if she used his body for her own needs because he knew she loved him and he would give her absolutely anything.

"I've been thinking Starshine."

She snuffled from where her nose was stuffed in the crook of his neck, dozing on and off after their afternoon of marathon sex. "About what babe?"

"Names, among other things. Like about the stories I haven't told you. From before the tower. You told me so many things when I asked after I lost those years of my life. You wanted me to remember, and I want you to know everything just in case this ever happens again."

Lucy perked up at that. She had never said anything but he knew that she was curious about who he was before everything in his life went to shit. "You know you never _have_ to tell me these things, Erik. I know it's hard."

"That's why I should tell you. Because it's my choice."

"I'll always listen. You know that."

"I know. I wanted to tell you about my mother. Or what I remember about her. It's not much, but…"

"I get it. Mothers are special." She smiled sadly, no doubt thinking of her own.

"I also think I have a name for the baby."

"It was your mother's, wasn't it?"

"Mhmm."

"I'm sure it'll be perfect."

And it was. Four months six days later, Lucy popped out a healthy six-and-a-half-pound baby girl with only a bit of collateral damage and three broken bones on Cobra's part. She had quite the set of lungs on her and Lucy couldn't stop crying.

When asked by Porlyusica (she was the only one Cobra even remotely trusted around Lucy for the birth) he replied that she would be named Bella.


End file.
